The Love of I
by Dark Lord Link
Summary: Link is the crowned "King of Smash" since Melee. His position on the top of the board has caused him to lose many of his former friends and constantly compete in the arena. He lacks sleep, and his life has become a misery. Luckily, Samus Aran is there to keep him on his feet. Link/Samus! (Early chapters due for rewrite)
1. Snowy Slumber

**A/N**: I've been meaning to try my hand at this for a long time. But alas, each time I try, I loose the drive to do so. Hopefully this turns out pretty good. I support this pairing with all my heart and I hope you do too, enjoy!

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Zelda, Metroid or Super Smash bros.

**The Love of I**

**Chapter I: Snowy Slumber**

A figure cloaked in a winter cape stood in the mountains. The place was actually a stage in a place called Smash Mansion, where tournaments were held by the greatest warriors from different worlds. The cold winter air blew the figure's cape, rustling their unruly blonde hair. Sapphire blue eyes, strong and gentle, gazed over the infinite sheets of ice. The wind carried the calming cool and the flakes of snow. Tears frozen by the frosty climate.

The figure shifted it's stance, their unique long ears picked up the sound of movement from behind.

'_Hmm, I was wondering when they would come up..._' The figure thought.

The sound of two sets of feet shuffling through the snow behind him reached the figure's ears. The figure gave a small smile when they felt a tug on the cape that covered their form.

"Uncle Link?" the shy voice of a young boy spoke from behind the figure.

"Yes Popo, Nana, it's me." Link answered the blue winter-suited, mallet wielding boy.

A young girl in a pink winter suit holding a wooden mallet in her tiny hands came into Link's view.

"Are you alright, uncle Link? Or are you here for a visit?" she asked. The children of the mansion always reffered to Link as 'Uncle Link', he was in their minds, an uncle.

"Just a visit. Being King of the tournament can add to one's stress, everyone want's my title." He answered with a hint of saddness placing his hand on the side of his temple.

Link's eyes were cracked with red, purple outlines around his sockets showed signs of lack of sleep. Two years ago, during the Melee tournament, Link had claimed victory over the previous champion, Mario the plumber, and was crowned king of the Smash Bros. But with this title, he lost most of his friends and the love of his life. 97% of the smasher's shunned him for his position and constantly challenged him for his throne. Whenever he was in the mansion itself, he was constantly watched. Because of this, he spent most of his time in the realms of the tournament, specifically, the ones least populated like Infinite Mountain.

"Well, it's freezing cold out here. Would you like to come in for some hot chocolate cocco?" Popo asked politely, finally using some of the methods of formal speech Link taught him in the previous years.

"I would greatly appreciate that. Thank you for your hospitality." Link replied politely with a formal bow, proud his teachings seemed to have taken root.

Popo and Nana each grabbed one of Link's gloved hands and led him to their shack. Cozy little thing and very welcoming. Of the Smasher's core, Popo and Nana were part of the 3% that still held respect for Link, most of the children did. He was like a father figure. He spent most of his time with them during the tournaments; playing with them, offering advice. And among the smasher's, that 3% were the only one's who did not shun or challenge Link at every moment they saw him. They let him be, he had enough as it was with everyone else.

Popo opened the door and walked in, Nana gesturing Link to watch his head as the shack was a little small, and the door was not tall for his full height. Crawling in, Link removed his cape and set it on a stand next to the door. He was wearing a silver tunic, white leggings and undershirt, a white colored pointy hat like his old one, and black boots.

Nana walked up and handed the Hylian champion a hot cup of cocco and then sat by her brother at their small dinner table. Link remained standing in the small hut, as he gazed around it.

He felt a feeling of Naustalgia come over him; memories of his home in Kokiri forest came flooding back to him. The walls of the shack were lined with various tools, pictures, toys, and other items for survival in the mountains. A cabinet filled with food no doubt was hung on the wall to his left. A few books littered the table the two Ice Climbers sat at, books Link himself had given to them. Fairy tell books he had once read when he was a child before he departed on his journey.

"I see you kept the books I gave you." he stated with a hint of pride. The two flashed him a smile.

"What? Those books give us a true feeling of fantasy! Why would we get rid of them?" Nana asked, she had more smarts and a formal tone when she talked. A surprising feature for someone her age.

"Yeah! There fun to read! The 'Tales of the Dragon Lords', the story about 'Xena and the Overlord of Galberit', there really entertaining. Was that the right word?" he stated, asking a confused quiestion afterwards while tilting his head with a bemused expression on his face. Link gave an amused chuckle at that.

"Yes that was a good choice of words. But I was half expecting you two to throw them away, young children like you don't usually take such interest in literature." Link stated.

"We use them for bed-time stories. They can put us to sleep really your not here, we take turns reading them to each other." Nana answered.

"Yeah, its getting close to bed-time any ways...Uncle Link, could you read one to us? Please?" Popo asked with a yawn, giving Link the puppy eyes for effect.

Link smiled at the two and grabbed the book with the title 'Xena and the Overlord of Galberit'. Flipping open the pages, he found the marker where they must have left off at and started reading.

***Four Hours later***

Link sighed as he closed the book. The ending always touched his heart. Xena fought the Overlord and killed him, sending his army back to the underworld, but dies in the hands of her beloved. Link always found that part of the story the most heartbreaking.

He looked up at the two sleeping siblings and noted that they were fast asleep. Another smile creeped onto his face as he set the book down and grabbed his cloak. Placing it on his shoulders and securing it, he blew out the candle and whispereda goodbye to the two.

"Goodnight, pleasant dreams..." he whispered before opening and closing the door quietly.

Link stood at the edge of the mountain, still lost in thought. The cold wind blew by again, chilling his cheeks. He closed his eyes and relished in the calmness that came over him. He knew this was dangerous, but he just needed it. To feel calm, the cold of the winter always put him at peace. It never failed before.

He spread his arms out and looking to the sky to further enjoy the state of blissfulness that had overcome him. Wintery air filled his lungs to the fullest, the smell of frozen pine and evergreen trees burning his sense of smell.

He stayed that way for what seemed like an eternity. His eyelids soon became more heavier than usual, sleep was upon him. Feeling neglected by the gods, he lowered his head and stared at his boots before turning and heading for the exit.

As he walked, he passed a rock formation. He was beyond tired, his walking mirrored that of a ReDead. He had to rest.

'Perhaps a few moments longer...' He thought as he sat down, leaning against the boulder.

His eyes became more heavier. The longer he stayed there, the more tired he felt.

'_I think I will just rest my eyes for a moment. What harm can come of that?_' He mused mentally.

Unfortunatley, that would prove to be a mistake. As he sat there, his eyes refused to open, his heart began to slow down in pace, and he felt as if he was tumbling into a black abyss. He fell into deep sleep, and as the night waned on, the snows began to cover his form slowly.

***Smash Mansion – Hallway 7B – 12:59 A.M.***

A figure in a red mechanical suit of armor marched through the halls. The figure was sent to find Link, Champion of Hyrule and inform him of another match he was challenged to.

'_Ugh, they won't learn will they? At this rate, he'll never sleep! Why hasn't Master Hand stepped in and done something already? This is so ridiculous..._' The figure thought, annoyed.

At the other end of the hall, a woman in a pink dress, blonde hair, blue eyes, and the symbol of Mushroom kingdom appeared. The Princess walked up to the armored figure and spoke.

"Samus! Where's Link?" She asked. The bounty huntress shook her head with a shrug.

"I don't know. I looked in Hyrule, but he wasn't there. The forest is empty, and he isn't in his room. What is it now, Peach?" Samus said with an angry tone, not at Peach, at the situation.

"Well, I can't find him either! Zelda hasn't seen him and neither has Young Link or Toon Link. Fox said he saw him in this hallway, but Falco said he saw Link in the kitchen earlier. He isn't there, I checked." Peach said worridly.

Peach and Samus were part of the 3% that let Link be. They knew him as a good friend and were not about to abandon him like the others.

"Well, you check the stadium, he might be there already, I'll look in infinite Mountain." Samus instructed. Peach nodded and left hurriedly as Samus opened the portal and walked into the snows of the Arctic Mountain.

Passing the rock formations, she gazed around. Her sensors were't picking up any signs of life. The only thing she saw was Nana and Popo's shack, and they were the only two there.

Growling, Samus turned around and faced the boulders. The sight she saw haunted her to this day. Link lay unmoving, his face was almost completely purple, and his body was half-covered in snow.

Screaming his name, she ran to his side and dropped to her knees. Removing her helmet, she checked his pulse, which was dangerously faint.

Link mumbled something in his sleep but Samus could not here it. He was shaking uncontrolably and his cheek was slightly swollen. His fingers and ears had mid frostbite, but other than that, he was still alive. Barely. The lack of sleep was also eating away at his life's energy.

"Damn it Link! What the hell are you doing!" she screamed at him over the winds. He remained unmoving.

Samus put her helmet back on and checked his vital signs, they weren't promising. Scooping him up, she made a made dash to the exit, using the suit to carry his extra weight.

As soon as she was in the hall, she sent out a signal to Doctor Mario's office.

**A/N**: I hope this was good, R&R! I'll get to updating this two more times, then I'm back to my other projects.


	2. The Infirmary

**A/N**: Heeeeyyy...I never work this fast! You guys reading this are lucky! -.-' ahem, enjoy chapter 2 of 'The Love of I'!

**Disclaimer**:...I think I've already established that I only own copies of these. Except for ssbb. I used to have ssbm but...whatever. I am getting it back though...hopefully.

**Super Smash Bros: The Love of I**

**Chapter II: The Infirmary**

Link awoke to the sounds of beeps and felt a few cords attached to him. He opened his eyes and was met with a face. Three to be precise. Two worried, one enraged beyond all hell. As Link's vision cleared, he was hooked up to a computer. The waves showing his vital signs at normal.

Except he was freezing cold.

"Damn it, Link! What were you thinking?" Samus's voice rang out in his head. He knoe realized it was her angry face he saw. He suddenly felt 2-inches tall. She always had that effect on him.

"What? What happened?" he asked, teath chattering. Her face, surprisingly softened quite a bit. Much to Link's surprise, but she was easily calmed when he was around. He had that effect on her, she just couldn't stay mad at him for long; annoyed maybe, but not mad.

"Well, you got more challenges-" Link groaned, but Samus continued.

"And I went to find you. Only you were alseep in Infinite Mountain. If I hadn't of gotten there when I did, you would be nothing but a frozen piece of meat!" she exclaimed. Link got a sudden sarcastic thought.

"Well, hang me out the window, it's warm out." he said with a grin. Zelda and Peach who were watching the two broke out laughing hysterically. Samus couldn't help but join them. She really didn't want to laugh right now, but she couldn't help it. He always found ways to make her smile.

"Thats much better. Samus, remember what I told you? You're much more beautiful when you smile." he said. Realizing what he just let out, he suddenly blushed. Samus' blush was less noticeable though. Zelda and Peach were now giggling.

"What? It was a compliment..." he said, trying to make it seem like something it wasn't.

"Sure, Link. We won't tell anyone." Peach responded. Link frowned at her in question.

"Tell anyone what?" he asked.

"That you have a crush on Samus." Zelda replied with an innocent smile. Samus turned and glared at the two.

"Alright, thats enough you two. He just woke up, he doesn't need anymore harrasing. Out, go on." she scolded. Link just sat there as the other two sulked and left.

"How-a are you-a feeling, Link?" Doc. Mario asked, appearing seemingly out of nowhere, surprising both of the close friends.

"Uh...Better, still cold, but I'm not as frozen as I was when I fell asleep." He answered after recovering from his shock.

"I'm un-a-happy to inform you-a that you-a have a cold. You have-a to spend-a week in-a bed until you-a recover. That-a means no-a matches." He explained, directing the last part at Samus who nodded, relieved he didn't have to fight so much and sink further into his dispair.

"He'll also-a need someone-a to care-a for him." Doc. Mario added.

"I'll go and get the princesses." Samus announced and stood, stopping as Doc. Mario stood in front of her.

"It would-a be-a better if it were-a you, Samus. You and-a Link are good-a friends, If-a anyone, Your-a better choice." he explained then gesturing for her to lean down so he could whispered into her ear.

"This-a is-a your chance, Samus." he stated.

"What are you talking about?" She whispered confusedly into his ear.

"It's-a now-a or never, Samus. If you don't-a take-a this chance, you-a will loose-a him forever!" he warned.

"What?" she continued to question.

Link, oblivious as to what was going on, eyed the two with suspicious eyes.

"I-a see how-a you have-a been staring at-a him. You care for-a him don't-a you." He stated more than asked.

Samus stood tall and glared down at Doc. Mario, he was afraid of course. Finally she sighed, Link was still here, and she didn't need to have him see her blast the Doc. back to Mushroom Kingdom.

"Fine, but Whatever it is your thinking, you are wrong. If you say something like that again, I'll bury you six feet underground." she warned, making the doctor gulp.

Samus walked back up to Link and explained to him how it was going to work. She planned on taking him to his room where she would be by as often as she could to help him recover. Link gave no objection as he attempted to walk.

Stumbling, he realized for some reason that his legs were not as responsive as usual, seeing this, Samus took his right arm and threw it over her shoulders. Hiding the blush that appeared on each other's faces, they moved out of the hospitial wing heading for Link's dorm.

They had a feeling that things were going to get awkward in the next week.

**A/N**: Ah, sorry about it being so short, I'm really lacking on the character's character. This may have been the shortest chapter from any of my stories! I know that Samus has a short temper, and Link is real innocent and humble like. But as for everyone else, I only ever played the Zelda series and a few other games with Link in it, and other random games, not their entire series. I never played Metroid before, sadly. I'm going on with what I know from other fictions, so bear with me.

I should have waited to write this until I learned more about the characters, but I just LOVE this pairing WAY too much and had to try it. Hopefully the story doesn't fail. R&R, the reviews made me happy last time! :D

**P.S.**: If anyone here reads Soul Calibur fictions, and want see a few pairings that were probably never considered before, check my other stories, hope there not disappointing!


	3. Day 1

**A/N**: **heh, usually it takes me a little longer to work these fictions, but I'm not complaining. Are you? O_o Thanks to a friend of mine, Legend of The Rune Factory for getting me up off me butt to work this thing! XD This story should expect to be updated more often then not, so enjoy!**

**Disclaimer**: **-.- This is so annoying...Alright, I give; I don't own SSBB, Zelda, or Metroid! -Draws a sword and chases lawyers off screaming like a mad man-**

**Super Smash Bros: The Love of I**

**Chapter III: Day I**

Link awoke with a start. Blinking the groggyness from his eyes, he sat up. Standing in the doorway was Samus. She had her Varia suit on. In one hand was her helmet, and in the other was a bowl of what smelled like chicken noodle soup.

"G'morning, sleepy-head. Sleep well?" she asked. Link blinked, he was feeling a little slow this day so it took some time for him to register what she had said.

"Huh? Oh, yes I sleeped well. But I have this splitting headache..." He answered back.

"One second, I'll get an asprin." Samus informed, placing her helmet on his dresser and the soup on a table next to his bed-side.

To this day, Samus still doesn't know how she missed them, but as she made her way towards the table where a still very frightened Doc. Mario had brought the medical surplus needed to treat Link, she tripped on his boots.

"Whoa!" She exclaimed. Link who was busy trying to eat his soup heard Samus' surprised shout, but before he could react, she fell right on top of him. Her lips met his, causing both to go wide eyed. But before either of them had time to blush, Link felt extreme heat coarse his side, his soup was spilled over his sheets.

"_**GAH!**_" he yelped. Samus couldn't help but wonder how he could jump that far up while laying down. A little further and he would have been able to sink his fingers into the roof. She also took notice of the smoke coming off his back as he fell to the floor.

"Oh sweet Nayru!" he exclaimed from his position on the floor as he tried to cool his burning bottom as best as he could.

Too worried about cooling his burn, he forgot about the flustered Samus who sat there on his bed, both cheeks blushing furiously red as she touched her lips. Why did she feel this warm sensation come over her when their lips met? She decided to ponder this later.

"Sorry Link, I tripped on your boots..." She apologized.

"No no, it's fine Samus, ow. Hehe, talk about your wake-up call!" He stated sarcastically, making her laugh. With his side burning, he forgot about the awkward sitiuation from earlier. Much to Samus' relief. She didn't want to dwell on it.

"Well, the week has barely started and already something happens. At least your not killing yourself with all the matches you had to fight." She muttered, Link heard her though.

"Don't remind me, please, that is the last thing I want to think on..." He remarked.

Samus stood up from Link's bed and finished aquiring his asprin. She took the time to notice how welcoming Link's dorm really was. Pictures of his past lined the walls. A few portraits of his friends from one of his quests against an evil 'soul consuming demon-sword'. Samus frowned at the one of a british lady with a very, _very_, revealing red suit holding a whip/sword in her hands. The woman had short white hair, icy blue eyes, a voluptious figure, and a smug look on her face as she sat in a chair. Behind her was Link with a frightened look on his face as he eyed the mysterious woman cautisouly.

"Uh, Link? Who's that?" Samus asked, pointing to the portrait.

Link looked up and cringed visibly at the image. He obviously didn't want to talk about it.

"That...is the only person I find scarier than Ganondorf. Isabella Valentine, most call her Ivy." Link explained.

"What is so scary about her then, and why if she scares you are you in the picture?" Samus asked, the whole thing sounded stupid to her...Link would whole-heartidly agree with her.

"Well, she is...um...an aquiantince. I traveled with her for awhile when that demon sword attacked Hyrule a few years ago. Take my word for it, that is one insane woman. She has the sickest sense of humor I have ever seen, worse than Ganondorf!" He stated. Samus found herself laughing at this.

"That bad, huh?" She asked, still laughing. Link nodded.

"It's not funny! What she did to me made me never _ever_ want to go back there again! Especially if she is still looking for me!" He exclaimed, a heavy blush on his face.

"Looking for you? Why is she? What did she do?" Samus asked, confused.

"Uh, lets just say that she...um...Oh goddesses, help me...She l...li...Damn it, I can't say it." Link seemed traumatized by something. Obviously his tongue had some lock on a specific word that connected to the woman's image.

"She what? What?" Samus asked, sounding impatient. She really wanted to know why this Ivy affected Link so much.

Link shuddered.

"She...Likes...me...Whew..." He said with a sigh. Samus frowned.

"That's it? She liked you?" She asked sounding confused.

"Samus; when Ivy likes something, she takes it...She likes me. She tried to take me, had it not been for some of my other friends there, I wouldn't be standing here in front of you. I would still be running for dear life screaming like a ReDead with a crazed dominatrix on my tail trying to catch me. It would look like some cucco chasing game...As for what she did to me, well, somethings are better left unsaid." He explained.

Samus stood there as the images of that voluptious woman chasing Link clear across the world registered in her head and the possiblities of what incident traumatized Link. She suddenly was on the ground laughing and holding her stomach. Link grimaced at the situation.

***Later that day***

Link sat in his bed, reading some of his old books. Occasionally taking a sip of his orange juice that was apparently good for a cold, Link still couldn't figure how that worked. He guessed it was the vitamins in it.

Samus had left already, tears streaking down her face as she couldn't stop laughing from earlier. She had some matches to attend to, her opponet: Snake.

Speaking of the devil, the experienced spy walked into Link's room with a frown on his face.

"Huh? Oh, hello Snake. How did your match go?" Link asked, keeping his formal tone.

"Eh, about normal against Samus. I lossed." He said with an amused chuckle. That elf sure did know how to make people feel better, in a non-sensual way. (**A/N: You perverts. You thought about it didn't you!**)

"I assume this is still about how you made that mistake the first time you met her?" Link asked, he remembered that day all to well. In all honesty, it was entertaining.

"I guess. Hell, how was I supposed to know she wasn't a man? I wish she would just drop it." Snake answered exasperatedly.

"Samus is not one to be disrespected, Snake. Everyone else made the same mistake except me. Zelda knew as well. That was a blow to her pride and she holds a grudge against everyone who called her a man. Especially Captain Falcon." Link said with an amused chuckle.

"Eh, whatever. She told me to come by and tell you she was going to be late. She has something else she needs to take care of. So I thought I'd drop by and say hello to the King." Snake stated with a shrug.

"I see. She had to speak with Doctor Mario on some perscription for my illness." Link muttered.

"So, when do you plan on telling her?" Snake asked suddenly causing Link to blink.

"I beg your Pardon?" Link asked confused. (**A/N: You see where this is headed? XD**)

"I heard from a reliable source that you have the hots for Samus Aran." Snake answered.

"What makes your source think that? As far as I know, Samus and I are just good friends." Link defended making Snake chuckle.

"Denial is the first step in this mushy stuff you people call love. Listen; sooner or later, you'll see what I mean. I did catch you staring at her a week before. Don't deny it!" Snake said with a victorious grin. Link's jaw hit the floor and he let out an exasperated gasp.

"What in Din's name are you talking about? Are you stalking me?" Link asked accusingly. Snake laughed.

"No, I just so happened to look at you at the time. Deny it all you want Linky, but I know that you like Samus more than you think so." The spy stated.

"I have no idea what you speak of." Link stated, sounding calm and unconcerned with the subject.

"That blush on your face says other wise." Snake stated with a huge grin. Link felt like choking himself.

"I'll leave you alone now. But remember what I said, take the chance kid, because you'll never find another woman like her ahain. Trust me, I've looked." Snake advised.

"I'm sure." Link grimaced at the spy as said spy left with a kick in his step.

'_Apparently I let some big cat out of the bag_.' Snake thought as he left, chuckling quietly.

Samus in her zero suit walked into the infirmary of the mansion on her way to see Doc. Mario about Link's prescription. She heard voices and assumed it was just a few other smashers getting checked up, but the conversation called for her to stop and listen.

"...I was in Link's dorm and I did tell him. He didn't take it, you know how it all starts out with denial. Didn't Samus deny it at first as well?" That voice was Snake's. Samus leaned against the wall and listened in on the conversation.

"Yes, She-a did-a deny it-a all. But I'm-a not going-a to go through-a that again." Doc. Mario answered.

"Go through what?" Snake asked. Apparently he didn't know about Samus's warning.

"Well, she-a told me-a that-a she would-a bury me-a if I-a said-a something like-a that again. So I-a dropped it." Doc. Mario answered. Samus chuckled quietly.

"Pfft. If we let up, those two wont know their own feelings for each other. Your gonna have to swallow your fears Doc and take things up a notch." Snake stated.

"Snake, this is-a Samus we're-a talking about-a!" Doc Mario argued.

'_So those two are in on this together? Oh, they are so dead_.' Samus thought, taking out her paralyzer and activating whip-form. '_Time for a little lesson, boys_.' She added.

She walked into the room and locked the door behind her. She turned around to see a surprised looking Snake and a terrified looking Doc Mario.

"Oh hey Samus. We were just talking about-" He didn't get much further as Samus suddenly leaped at him like a crazed lioness on the hunt.

Samus walked along the hallways on the way to Link's dorm with a smile on her face. She felt alot better, having released all her previous stress on the two imbeciles in the infirmary for Princess Peach to deal with. She never knew them to beg for mercy. It amused her in more ways than one.

What was even more amusing was how it was Pit who found them all.

She knocked on Link's door and waited for him to answer her. But he didn't respond.

"Hey Link? You alright in there?" she called. Still no response. Samus checked the door and it was unlocked. She opened the door and sighed in relief when she saw 'sleepy-head' asleep with a book in his hands. Glancing at the clock which read 12:20am, Samus walked up to Link's form and removed the book.

Placing said book away on his bookshelf, Samus closed his curtains and switched off the lights. As she left Link's medicine on his night table, she heard him mumble something in his sleep. Curious, Samus leaned in to listen closer.

"...Samus...love you...No Ivy, I don't want to wear the pink hat..." Link mumbled.

Samus just sat there, a shocked look on her face. The first part of the sentence was the only thing she heard. Link said something in his sleep that had to do with love and her. Not knowing how that word connected with her, she decided to shake it off and get some sleep.

Hopefully day two would not be so full of unexpected events.

**A/N: _"No Ivy, I don't want to wear the pink hat..."_ **

**...**

**Ooookaaaaay, I have to admit, that one was random. But this is a humor fiction, is it not? And humor tends to be deprived out of the ordininary. Please tell me you liked this and that I got the character's right! In other words, R&R!**


	4. Day 2

**A/N:** ….Sorry is all I can say for basically lying to you all about the updates. *slaps self about* Well, at least I could say I fell out of a tree in a twelve foot drop that damn near broke my right leg and nearly dislocated my jaw and busted my lips as well as drawing blood from my right nostril on the 12th of January, three days ago when I wrote this. I'm much better now, and surprisingly my injuries that are recovering quickly haven't hindered my writing. So enjoy this chapter in light of that news!

**Disclaimer****:** I don't own zip.**  
**

**Super Smash Bros: The Love of I**

**Chapter IV: Day II**

_Knock knock_.

A knock at Link's door woke him from his blissful dreams of Samus. Link's dream was he had spent a day with her in the mansion's forest, and at the end when the moon shone brightly over the lake about a mile from the mansion, they shared a kiss. Then, Ivy came running in with an evil smile holding a pink hat that was a bit more of a Santa hat only it was pink. What got Link was Ivy was running around his dreams turning them into nightmares.

_**BANG BANG**_.

Link jumped from under his sheets, he forgot someone was at his door. He sighed, thinking Samus must have been upset about something today. He sat up in his bed, fixing his hair and trying his best to look good for her, not knowing why he wanted to look good for her, but fixed himself nonetheless.

"Come in!" Link called. The door opened and a body sitting in a wheel chair, completely covered in gauze from head to toe, making Link think it was a Gibdo in a chair with wheels, rolled in and shut the door.

"Mhem kid." Snake's muffled voice greeted from under the white wrapping, raising his right hand in greeting. His body was all crooked; his left arm was raised and his right leg was bent sideways, making Link wince at how it must have felt.

"...Snake? Nayru, Farore, and Din... What happened?" Link asked, more than a little shocked by his friend's appearance.

"...Your girlfriend is what happened." The spy answered, sounding annoyed. Link stared blankly, before he began to snicker slightly, then he started chuckling. That chuckle became a thunderous laugh after a moment.

"Shad up! You've no idea what I've been through! She left me and the doc with a freaked-out Pit who called for Peach who came running with Zelda. It took those three two hours to put us both back together!" Snake shouted. Link held his stomach as he tried desperately to catch his breath. He wiped tears from his eyes before he responded.

"She's not my girlfriend as you insist on calling her. What did you do now?" Link asked, calming himself. Snake grumbled incoherently before grunting.

"Before I answer you, do me a favor and scratch my nose. I can't reach it..." Snake requested, making Link grimace at his request.

"Uhhmmm...Okay?" Link muttered, a little disturbed. Snake rolled his way closer to the Hylian so that Link could reach his nose. Link hesitantly reached out and began scratching Snake's nose.

"Aah, no a little to the left, yeah that's the spot." Snake muttered with a sigh as Link pulled his hand back and began wiping it on the side of his bed.

Samus was walking towards Link's room, ready to throw Snake out as she had seen him enter probably trying to poison Link's mind about herself.

She stopped at the door, trying to see if she could catch the spy in the act when she heard snake moaning. Something sounded like it was being scratched, making Samus frown.

"Aah, no a little to the left, yeah that's the spot." Snake's voice said from the other end. Samus felt her face twist in anger and jealousy. She boiled red, thinking the wrong idea, and kicked the door open.

She stormed in, intent on murdering someone when she saw Link still in bed and Snake in his wheel chair.

"What? Who just came in? I can't see." Snake asked Link.

"It's only Samus." Link responded, a little confused by Samus' rough intrusion.

"What the hell is going on in here?" Samus asked, her voice furious and her figure looking like an avenging war goddess. Link blinked but Snake gulped, trying to get out of the corner he was in at Link's bedside, not really caring what Samus was talking about just wanting to get away from her.

"Snake came and visited me, asked me to scratch his nose, and I obliged him..." Link answered, a little unsure. Samus' face dropped with her jaw in surprise.

"What?" She questioned, thinking she heard him wrong. Link shrugged as Snake quivered in his chair.

"Like I said, Snake asked me to scratch his nose because he couldn't reach it. So I did it for him." Link repeated calmly. Samus suddenly felt foolish and embarrassed, she turned her head aside to hide her blush.

"What did you think we were doing?" Snake asked. Samus only shook her head at the thoughts, blushing a deeper shade.

"...You don't want to know." She muttered. Link cleared his throat, Samus turned to look at him and noticed his serious expression with his arms crossed. Link briefly glanced at the spy before turning those piercing eyes on Samus.

"Samus, would you be so kind to help Snake out the door?" Link asked, his tone a little serious. Samus got an evil idea but shrugged to hide it. Snake seemed frightened on the idea, he glanced side to side looking for an escape before Samus' hands grabbed his chair.

"I hate you..." He muttered to Link who blinked at him. Not understanding his sudden frantic attempt to move. Then it hit him, Link remembered Samus hated Snake. Only one thing could happen now and it wasn't going to be good for the older spy. Link slapped himself on his head, cursing his own lack of attention.

'_Uh oh..._' He thought, Link looked up and watched as Samus led Snake to the window, she opened it up and grinned. Link's balcony had no railing, it was perfect for what the Huntress had in mind.

"Oh god, please Samus don't do what I think your going to do!" Snake pleaded. Link was about to call to her when, too late, Samus pushed the chair forward and laughed as Snake screamed when the chair went over.

Snake's voice grew lower in volume until a loud bang was heard from below and an "Ouch." when the spy landed. Samus fell backwards, landing on Link's bed and rolling from side to side as Link glared disapprovingly at her. The thought of it all soon got to him and he found himself laughing alongside Samus.

Samus slowed her laughing down and so did Link, she attempted to stand and Link tried to move about in his bed when they both looked up at each other. Their faces were too close for comfort. After a moment of silent staring, Link backed up, clearing his throat and rubbing his neck. Samus wasn't sure why but she felt a little disappointed. She slapped herself mentally.

'_Oh I'll kill that doctor if he does this to me again. Before when Link and I came close physically it wasn't awkward. Now when we do, thanks to doc Mario and Snake, I get these weird thoughts and feelings in my head._' Samus hissed mentally.

"Sorry Samus, I fell out of place here for a second." Link apologized. Samus turned and glared at him though Link was unsure as to why.

"I swear if you tell me you're sorry one more time for something like that, I'll slap you upside that cute face of yours-" Samus started, intending on being sarcastic, before her eyes widened and she slapped her mouth shut. Link blinked a bit in surprise at the word "cute".

"Pardon?" He asked.

'_Where did that come from? What the hell is wrong with me?_' Samus demanded to herself mentally.

"Never mind. You didn't hear what I just said, got it?" Samus warned quickly, though her tone didn't show hostility.

"If you say so Samus..." Link muttered, Samus walked over to Link's table, sighting the medication she brought him the night before and noting he never opened it.

"Link, did you take your medicine this morning?" Samus asked, her eyes narrowed and her arms on her hips. '_Why do I feel like I'm a wife trying to take care of my husband, or something?_' Samus thought.

Link shook his head in answer as he grabbed his sword and studied it in boredom. Samus knew Link hated being still for too long, he used to be moving all the time and now he was stuck in his room for a whole week. She couldn't live with that herself.

Samus read the bottle in silence for a moment as Link took a cloth and polished his sword, seemingly deep in thought.

'_I'd rather have Ivy chasing after me than just sitting here doing nothing...Wait...what am I saying?_' Link thought to himself, horrified by the idea. He glanced at her painting on the wall, her smug grin and crystal ice eyes stared at him with a look that frightened him. Link shuddered to himself, missing his old friends from that world, but then again, Samus was here for him. He also had the two princesses and Snake. Plus the children to keep him company.

Link hadn't seen Fox in awhile now, he kind of missed his company. Other than Samus, Link and Fox were a strong team. Firm friends since the day they met. Falco, Link was better off without him, Falco liked to pull his ears and whip out cruel pranks like Ivy used to do. Only difference is, Falco wasn't as dark, cruel, or romantically interested in Link. Or at least Link hoped he wasn't.

Samus poked Link's shoulder twice, trying to get his attention. Link looked up to see her with a worried look on her face. Link reared back in surprise with an eyebrow raised. Samus with a worried look was a new thing for him to see. Though he found it cute when she blushed, he guessed he really was falling for the Huntress. But he knew he would never admit it to anyone especially her. Lest he end up in bed for longer with a broken body.

Well, that's what happened to Captain Falcon.

"Hey, I was talking to you and you're over there in la-la land. Wake up!" Samus said, shaking Link's shoulder for effect, breaking him from his thoughts and handing him a pill with a glass of water.

"Swallow that, it supposed to drop your fever." Samus said, placing her hand on Link's forehead and checking his temperature. She didn't know where she got that method from, it just came to her almost demanding her to place her hand on his head.

"You know Samus, you've been acting strange lately, are you alright?" Link asked after swallowing the pill. Samus glared at him as if Link just struck a blow to her pride.

"Couldn't be better. I'll be back later, can I take that painting with me? I need it for a minute. I'll bring it back later with me." Samus stated as she gestured to the painting of Ivy. Link narrowed his eyes at Samus in suspicion for a moment as she put an innocent expression on, making him more suspicious.

"What in Din's name do you want with that picture?" Link exclaimed, his voice mirroring his expression.

"I just wanted to examine it for a bit. I need to check my holographic image transmitter to make sure it works. It needed to be fixed after Falcon broke it last time and I just want to make sure it still works with bigger objects like this." Samus lied. Link blinked in confusion, the words "Holographic" and "Transmitter" was unfamiliar to him.

"I have no idea what you just said." Link commented making Samus roll her eyes as she remembered Link wasn't familiar with her level of technology.

"Very well, goodbye Samus. And thank you for helping me, I appreciate it." Link thanked quietly, a grateful smile on his features. Samus' heart rate began to quicken, she nodded quickly before grabbing the portrait and almost running out the door.

"Oh, Link. I have a friend I want you too meet later. I'll bring her by tonight when I come back. See ya." Samus added as she closed the door and leaned on it with her back.

"Oh, okay..." She heard Link mutter from inside the door, Samus figured she left too quickly but that wasn't the most biggest problem on her mind.

'_Okay, enough is enough with the weird feelings._' Samus declared mentally as she hurried back to her ship. A devilish grin on her face.

Doc Mario sat in is own bed with Princess Peach and Princess Zelda both in nurse out-fits checking him. Snake was on the other side in his own bed as his injuries sky rocketed from his fall. Zelda giggled to herself at the story he told them when they asked what happened.

"I should have known Samus was going to do that." Zelda commented to Peach who looked up.

"What do you mean?" Peach asked.

"That Samus is being protective over my brother." Zelda answered. Peach's eyes widened, she never knew the two were related.

"Link is you brother?" She asked in surprise. Zelda nodded.

"Yes, though we didn't learn until after his first quest, I discovered that the woman who took him to Kokiri Forest was my mother. She claimed to the Guardian of those woods that Link was her son. I just linked everything up, my mother died the same day Link's did. How do you explain that?" Zelda explained. Peach shrugged.

"Coincidence?" She offered, Zelda looked at Peach with a blank expression.

"In my experience, there is no such thing as coincidence." Zelda commented.

Sheik walked in, her face covered by her shawl like usual. She walked up to Zelda's side and whispered to both the princesses.

"Samus is going to pull a joke on Link. She said it would do him good though she didn't say how, and that she needed you two to help her." Sheik informed. Zelda blinked as did Peach. Snake and Doc Mario were too far away to hear.

"Where is she?" Peach asked.

"In her ship in the hangar. Probably knocking Falcon out again as I saw him with some flowers heading that way." Sheik said, her tone suggesting that it wasn't anything new. Zelda nodded and set up a bed for another patient who would be arriving anytime soon.

Samus waited for the princesses and Sheik to arrive, the painting of Ivy and Link hovered above a round console with a blue light scanning about it.

The sound of heels and feminine whispering could be heard from the ramp of her ship, she turned around and saw it was Peach, Zelda, and Sheik.

"You called?" Zelda asked as they approached the bounty huntress. Samus nodded, an evil grin on her face as she pointed to the portrait. Zelda gazed at it, her lips showing a dark and mischievous smile.

"Oh, I see what you're planning..." Zelda muttered.

Link placed his book down, it had been all day since Snake or Samus had come by. Link marked his place in the book with a small piece of paper and returned it to the shelf. He stood from his bed, running his hand through his hair in thought before moving to grab his old Ocarina of Time. He sat at a chair by the window and began to play it. The songs he hadn't sung for so long came flooding back to him as he maneuvered his hands about the small instrument.

He played for a moment or two before a chill racked his form. Link grimaced, that only happened when something bad was about to happen, danger was approaching, or if he was just plain cold. He stood, looking for his old tunic and hat to wear. He caught sight of both in his closet door way, he moved over to grab them. He donned the wear that made him known in many worlds, before sitting back at the chair by the window.

He started playing again.

A knock at his door went unheard as Link's Ocarina drowned it out. On the other side, a voluptuous woman in a red, revealing battle suit growled in frustration before opening the door.

"Oh, Liiiink..." a slightly deep feminine voice with a seductive tone called. Link felt his face pale. Still playing the Ocarina, he turned and the sight made him gasp into the Ocarina, ruining the note and making an extremely achingly high pitched note resound in the room. But Link paid no heed to that.

The woman had short unique silver-hair, crystal icy blue eyes, rose red lips, a body to melt the strongest willed of men, and her left arm was covered in armor of gold. The woman had an evil smirk on her face and her short hair covered her right eye.

Link dropped the Ocarina, luckily it did not break, and began to point at Ivy and tried to talk or scream. He could only get out gasping sharp breaths through his moving mouth before he stood and backed into a corner. Ivy licked her lips seductively and began to approach Link in deliberately slow steps. Link turned around and tried to climb the wall, jumping wildly like a chicken being cornered and scratching at the concrete in an attempt to get a grip.

When Ivy was only four feet from him, Link looked side to side before screaming like a mad-man and throwing himself through the window. The glass shattered as he waved his arms about. He traveled quickly to the ground before making impact on his front side.

"Oooowwww..." Link grunted as he tried to stand.

Ivy stood in the empty room, her lips twitched before she laughed uncontrollably, she fell back on Link's bed and rolled on her sides hysterically.

Zelda, Sheik, and Peach walked in to see the dominatrix on the bed holding her sides. Zelda tapped a button on a controller she pulled from her pocket and Ivy became Samus in her Zero Suit. The three looked around to see if they could find Link when they noticed the shattered window.

"Where'd he go? All I heard was gasping, followed by scratching, than a scream and shattered glass." Sheik asked.

"Link threw himself out the window to get away from me! I wish you could have seen the look on his face!" Samus giggled out as she calmed herself down. Zelda and Peach gasped before looking out the window to see Link on the ground, turning over to lay on his back. Sheik jumped down and landed by the hero.

The two princesses turn to glare at Samus who stopped laughing.

"I didn't know, how was I supposed to know he'd jump out the damn window?" Samus defended herself.

The three ran out the room to get Link, Samus knew she was going to get a mouth-full from the two princesses/nurses for taking it too far. But then again, they did help her.

**A/N:** -shifty eyes- Finally!

Poor Link, scarred out of his skin by Ivy. I'm probably going to start working on a one-shot that could be linked to this particular story in terms of what Link had to go through with Ivy. Or, I could make it a bonus scene after this story is done for anyone curious as to what happened. What do you guys think?

I think that this chapter, being long as it is, makes up for the shorter ones from before. I've changed the way I write in terms of how much I put in a chapter. They either stay ahead of six pages or reach nineteen pages.

Hey NightShade! If you're reading this, are you still writing that particular scene out, the one I requested you write from "A Love Reborn and Renewed"?

Review!


	5. Day 3

**A/N**: Dammit to bloody hell, I hate, HATE writer's block! I curse the day it was born!

* * *

**Super Smash Bros: The Love of I**

**Chapter V: Day III**

"I see you!" A feminine, evil laugh followed the playful call. Link ran as fast as his legs could carry him, the one he ran from was close enough to bite him from behind. He lashed through some bushes within this dark forest area, occasionally being cut, jumping over fallen logs to evade his pursuer, the one who wore the light-purple battle suit. With each minute, and every jump, he felt himself slow down further and further. With that knowledge, he could feel a pain in his leg.

Link glanced back briefly, catching sight of his attacker. He couldn't make out much, just athletic legs pumping the main body forward at phenomenal speed, the rest was in shadow. What he could see was the glinting light of sky blue eyes watching his every move...and a pink hat much like his own in the attacker's left hand. The bearer of the snake sword lashed out with her blade, the clinging of the possessed blade breaking, kept together by bewitched chain links and tripping Link's rapidly moving feet.

The breathless hero tripped with a grunt, hitting the ground hard. Before he could stand, the clawed hand of his pursuer grasped his neck line with more power than he recalled she possessed.

He glanced up, the horror rippling through his form in waves of fear. The cyan eyes of the dominatrix inched closer. Her breath on his skin, he waited until her voice, dark and menacing yet sultry whispered gently to his face.

"Got you, love." She cackled, inching closer for the dreaded kiss Link feared for so long...when she suddenly grabbed a nearby stick and started poking Link's chest rather roughly.

Link snapped out of his frozen state to yell an, "Ow! What the-? OW! Stop that! I already feel like a fool, OW!" Link continued to yelped as Ivy giggled and poked his chest with curiosity. Link kept yelling and resisting for a while until he noticed his vision grew darker and began to fade away. As Ivy's smug grin and mischievous eyes faded, Link felt himself fall into a long, dark hole that ripped through time and place, consuming the world.

Sheik sat by the fallen hero Link; leaning over him as she poked his chest with a stick she found randomly lying around where the hero had fell. He was growling, grunting and occasionally snapping at someone named "Ivy" in his unconscious state. That was all the young Sheikah could hear, the rest she couldn't quite make out. And from the sound of his vicious tone, she wasn't sure if she wanted to know.

The Sheikah had long since had a tendency to avoid physical contact with everyone, only excluding actual combat. She hated touching and being touched. When she jumped down from the window and landed next to the out-cold hero earlier, she examined him and took note of a bruised rib-cage and a broken left leg. She couldn't check his pulse, so she just grabbed a fairly sized twig with a sharp end and hoped the smash King would awaken from her poking.

Now that she thought about it, it was rather fun. The, "oof, ow, ee, aha!" that came from Link was more amusing than Samus' trick. She found herself smiling behind her shawl, it wasn't often in one's lifetime that they had the opportunity to poke the infamous legend without being chased away by him and his sword.

Link began to stir in the way any would do as they awoke. He opened his eyes, holding his chest. He tried to move his leg but grunted when he felt a powerful blast of pain shoot through it.

_Poke, poke. _With each jab, Link felt himself wince.

He opened his eyes to see Sheik looming over him, lost in some form of fantasy as she poked him again.

"Ow! Sheik! Din almighty, stop that! Why must you always poke and prod me when you see me asleep?" Link shouted, surprising the Sheikah.

"Ehehe, sorry about that. You know about my physical-phobia..." The Sheikah trailed off. Link gave her a solid glare as he attempted to sit up, only gasping due to his injured rib-cage.

"Sheik...I told you...before...there's no, such, thing...Ow!" Link grunted as he ascended. Sheik rolled her ruby red eyes at his statement, it may have not existed under that name, but she knew it did.

The young Sheikah pressed him back down, using his shoulders as handles.

"Don't move, from what I could see you bruised your ribs and broke your left leg. Nice going, Rauru." Sheik scolded in a sarcastic tone. Link groaned, holding his throbbing head.

"I feel like the Indigo-gos just played a poker session in my head..." He complained, describing his headache. Sheik frowned, she never heard of that band before.

"What did you expect? You just jumped from a good five stories! Did you think that you would land on your feet and everything would be hunky dory?" She shouted. "Good thing I'm not Impa. I would have really knocked you into a coma for that bout of stupidity." She scolded further...Suddenly, without a hint or warning, Link grabbed the Sheikah's collar and held her close. Sheik swore in surprise but was confused by the look on Link's usually stern face. All she saw was fear.

"Where is she?" Link whispered in heavy urgency. Sheik, who was busy trying to pry the king's arms off her suit, only tilted her head to the side in puzzlement.

"Who? Impa?" She felt stupid for asking, but she really had no idea what he was talking about. And she really hated the fact he was touching her. Link gasped, looking left to right. The sight was so hilarious, Sheik began to chuckle.

"W-where? Wh-where is I-Ivy?" Link desperately wanted to know where this 'Ivy' was, and from that tone, she knew he planned to avoid that location at all costs. Not knowing what he wanted to know, Sheik shrugged honestly.

"I have no idea in Farore's name who you are talking about." She answered truthfully. All she knew was Samus was going to make herself look like someone Link was very much paranoid of and spook the ReDead's out of him. Obviously, she did well on that. Before Link can ramble any further, she broke his grip on her and stood. Link didn't get the point, he simply grabbed Sheik's legs and held on tight. The young lass could hear the king's teeth chatter.

She did her best to kick off the hysterical champion, but he would not budge.

Finally; Samus, Zelda, and Peach came around the corner of the mansion with Mario, Young Link, and Popo in tow with a stretcher. The two boys stopped by the king's side, instead of worry looks, they gave off stupefied looks.

"Get _off_ of me you idiot!" Sheik screeched, wiggling her foot about. Zelda, ignoring the unusual scene, pushed Link onto his back and forced him to let go so that she could herself check him.

"Link, Ivy isn't here!" Samus piped up, her voice mechanized by her power suit, also scanning and holding the alarmed champion. Young Link and Popo shared looks and stepped back. Mario was just as confused if not more. The two boys glanced at him, looking for an explanation. He noticed their gazes and shook his head.

"Don't-a look at me-a. I have-a no idea what-a is-a going on-a." He muttered. Mario was alright with Link being the King, he had his time on the throne long enough. The day the fight for the crown took place, Mario warned Link it would not be easy to keep his throne if he won. Link nodded, he understood this, but winning the crown was really not in his interests. Bettering himself so that he could defend his kingdom better was all he looked for in the tournament.

But it would seem the stress of the crown was getting to the younger man...elf...Hylian...whatever he was. Young Link poked Mario's shoulder to snap him from his thoughts of what race exactly Link and Zelda was from. The younger version of the king pointed to the stretcher.

"Oh yeah..." Mario muttered as he pulled the mobile bed next to Link's twitching form.

"Alright you gullible hunk of meat, up you get." Samus grunted as she used her suit to lift Link up as gently as she could and place him on the stretcher. Link, still worried about Ivy showing up to torture him, held on tightly to Samus' neck.

"Please Samus I beg you! Don't let her get me, I'll serve you for all eternity!" Link pleaded. Now Samus wanted to drop him and make sure she slept with her Helmet on. The blush and rush of blood was making her woozy, and Link begging her like his life depended entirely on her wasn't helping the matter. The heat from her body was intensified by her sudden rush of adrenaline.

'_Stupid elf...stupid blush...stupid feelings...ugh, it's hot in here!_' She moaned mentally in agony.

"Yeah yeah yeah you big baby...I got your back." Samus assured, feeling very out of place in such a situation. Link's grip tighten more so.

"Thanks Sam...you're the best." Link muttered. Too bad Zelda and Peach heard him. The sound of girlish giggling and laughter from the other boys, except young Link who was just as silent as Link always was, could be heard from behind the bounty hunter. The glaring form of Samus Aran turned to melt her allies with her intensified glare, hotter than Brimstar Depths six-hundred feet below the lava.

What she saw was Zelda with an "aww" face, Peach giggling uncontrollably, Popo looking as confused as he did when he got there, Mario hiding behind a bush because of Samus, and Young Link asking Sheik if he would act just like Link is when he was his age. That last one was a little amusing for Samus, but Peach and Zelda's knowing faces irked her.

"Why don't you two shut up and get the doors..." Samus groaned in defeat. When those two were together, it was like Ridley, Mother Brain, and Kraid had teamed up against her all at once. And she absolutely hated that fact.

Link gazed at the detail-less ceiling of the infirmary. It was all he could do. He was sitting down, tied to the bed by a set of chains because he refused to remain sane long enough for Zelda and Peach to treat him in the doctor's absence.

Samus was sitting in a chair next to him, her helmet was removed and placed on his table next to his Ocarina. She had a blank look on her face, but her eyes betrayed her. They showed silent amusement from her trick, but a little guilt. Link knew she and even Zelda his sister didn't know exactly what Ivy did to him during his stay in her world. Coupled with the fact Link would never dream of thinking even for a second about holding a grudge for a bit of fun. He understood Samus' logic in that action, she was trying to help him overcome his past.

Allot of good it did him.

"Fine I'm sorry, there I said it." Samus finally broke the silence. Link would have but he was gagged at the moment.

"I didn't know it was that bad, sue me." She added. Link rolled his eyes. Snake, still recovering from his drop sat next to Link's bed. No one could see the satisfied grin behind his gauze. He had proven his point to Link, his job was done in that department. Now he plotted to fuel that ember of attraction he sees in the two.

Samus had already beat him into silence when they came in. Once Snake saw Link's mangled form and was told by Zelda why he was hurt like this, he could not stop the chuckle. I twas more than enough to send the grumpy huntress into a frenzy. Samus was unable to take his silence any longer, the tense atmosphere could choke her.

She stood, looming over Link who grew weary of her actions and began to sweat. Samus, allowed herself a small smile, despite how out of place it felt. She removed the gauze and threw it into the nearby trash can so that Link could speak.

"Spill it. I wanna know what this lady did to you." She demanded sternly. He sighed.

"Oh no, somethings are better left unsaid..." He stated in a tone saying he didn't want to talk about it. Samus punched a nearby wall hard, but her suit protected her hand.

"Dammit Link." She sighed. There was only so far she was willing to take this, and she wasn't going to take it to the point of him going crazy again on her. "I'll be back. I'm going to go find Fox, and tell him what happened." She stood after that announcement.

"Samus! If you see Falco, don't tell him a thing about this." Link pleaded. Samus felt that blush creeping back, it happened every time he begged her for something.

"Yeah yeah, sure. Whatever." And with that, the huntress left.

"Falco! Where did you put my wrench?" an anthropomorphic fox called a little annoyed. The head of a falcon with a smug look peaked around a downed Arwing.

"Diya ask Peppy? Last time I saw it, Peppy had it on the dash of his craft." Falcon answered. Fox smacked his muzzle.

"Why me?" He asked himself with his hands in the air.

"Show me ya mov-!" A large, beefy man suddenly shouted from the hallway.

"_SHAD UP!_" The angry voice of Samus interrupted. The sound of something hitting the door to the hangar was heard until the door slammed open and Falcon was flung through the hinges. Falco laughed as he shook his head.

"That guy is never going to learn that no means no." He mused.

"I heard that." Fox agreed.

Samus marched through the door and stepped on Falcon who was still getting up, before continuing on her way. Falcon had a love-dazed look on his face, as if nothing ever happened.

"I swear he enjoys pain..." Samus muttered. She marched up to Fox who was leaning up against his Arwing rather lazily with his arms crossed.

"Hey Samus." He greeted, throwing on a smile.

"Fox." Samus returned.

"What can I do for ya?" He asked. Nearby, a toad yelped as he fell off his Arwing which was suspended in the air, and hit the ground with an audible SMACK.

"Oh you know, same old usual stuff that...we...do." Fox said, resisting the urge to turn and see what happened. Falco however was spilling his guts on the floor laughing while Falcon stared at Samus from a distance, drooling.

"I can see that. I came here to tell you Link fell from his balcony and is sitting in the Infirmary. If you need him, he'll be there." Samus informed gruffly, cracking her knuckles as she took notice of Falcon's drooling.

"What? Wha, how does someone like Link fall off his balcony?" Fox demanded. Samus shrugged at the question, thinking up a good lie as Falco was too close for her to really say why.

"He slipped. Someone watered his patio before and he fell forward." She lied. Falco pretended not to care much, Link was more of an acquaintance than a friend.

"Oh...wow. How is he?" Fox asked.

"Ask him that yourself." Samus replied, before giving Fox a very quick and nearly unnoticeable wink of secrecy. Fox immediately knew that she was covering up the truth. He and Samus had a code that no one, not even Link understood. Nodding, Fox thanked Samus for telling him and Samus armed her arm cannon and prepared to beat the daylights out of Falcon...again.

"Don't say I told you so." Snake's muffled voice reached Link's ears after Samus left. Link rolled his eyes again.

"I can't do this with you now Snake, please give me some quiet. I have such a headache..." Link groaned.

"Ha! The king has a headache." Snake teased.

"You will too if you don't keep quiet, dirt bag." Samus' voice warned from the doorway. Snake looked up and shook his head.

Samus walked over and pulled Snake's bed out from it's position and rolled it into the hallway.

"Hey! What are you doing?" Snake demanded.

"Quiet. I wanna talk with Link alone. You're next Doc, out you go." Samus answered, shoving the Doc's bed out too. Once the two were alone, Samus shut the doors and stepped up to Link's bedside, again taking her position on the chair and removing her helmet.

Link watched her, she seemed to be restraining herself, Link caught sight of a snicker cracking about her delicate lips.

"What's so amusing?" He finally asked after loosing his patience in waiting.

"I still can't get over how you keep begging me for things! You should see yourself, I'm tempted to say that it's adorable!" She revealed. Link blushed ten shades of red, he knew he heard her right that time. Samus wasn't at all bothered by this at all, she had thought on her way back that she could still have a bit of fun with Link, and playing with his head was one way to go about having it.

"I am seriously thinking that you need a break Samus..." Link finally piped up, sounding like he was venturing into unknown territory. Samus was sarcastic allot around him, but she never went that far with her jokes, well once, but that was April fools. And Link still has the picture of a mock kiss turned out to be the 'Pin the tail on the Donkey' game. Now no one was going to leave him alone about him and Samus as a couple because he fell for that.

"Oh come on! Even you have to admit that it was priceless! I wish I had my helmet ready to record that!" She answered. Link wished he was alone right now.

"You mean like that one April Fools joke you pulled?" Link asked, a blank look of unimpressed facial structure on him. Samus nodded with glee. Now Link knew something was wrong.

The door opened and Zelda stuck her head in, she didn't seem all that amused, likely because she saw Snake and Doc Mario in the hallway. But when she took notice Samus and Link were by themselves, that annoyance left as quickly as it came.

"Samus, stop tormenting my brother and let him get some sleep. Or me and Peach will make you wear makeup..." She warned in the most innocent tone the Princess could muster. Samus tensed so hard that her shoulders lifted as high as they could. Link watched her face twist to utter horror.

'_Can't blame her, when those girls put makeup on, they put makeup on._' Link pitied the bounty hunter mentally.

"Give me a second, will ya? I promise I wont be for long, just five more minutes!" Samus answered, not risking the threat. Zelda laughed and nodded as she left.

"I overdid it, didn't I?" She asked. The question took Link off-guard for a second, but he realized she meant her bright manner from earlier. The non-Samus one.

"...Just a bit." Link answered, teasing a bit. Samus gave him a look that could kill, but it changed to another that almost meant 'Oh you.'

"Goodnight, suicidal champ." Samus teased back, making Link pout and mutter something about rather being dead than face Ivy again. As she stood, Link suddenly reached out and grabbed her hand, halting the hunter in her movement. If she wanted to, she could've dragged him out of the room with ease, but something about how he grabbed her arm stopped her. She felt his lips press against the back of her hand, and with it came that warm feeling she hated so much during her awkward moments with Link.

"Thank you for trying, Sam." Link whispered. She could see his gratefulness in the shine of his ocean blue eyes. She felt another smile strike her lips, Link was the only person she ever met that she was really comfortable with, the only person she would allow to take such liberties. She trusted him, and she knew he trusted her more.

"Don't mention it."

**A/N**: Ooooookaaay...great Din I have the feeling that that wasn't as good as the last chapter but hell, writer's block isn't liking me as much as Link and Samus are now. Hope this was worth the wait.

Nothing new to report except the flood of ideas I got while writing this story out, but the scenes I deleted were irrelevant to the plot which circles around Samus and Link. SO, in the future when The Love of I is done, or nearly done, I will make another Smash story that will be very different than what you are all used to. IE No smash mansion, no tournament, no one knows what's going on, no one knows each other EXCEPT those who come from the same world of course.

Now that this is over with, SPECIAL THANKS to all the loyal followers of this story written by the dark lord of fail. And a very special thanks to xXTime2BurnXx, Shadowvaen, Thalia-DawnBringer, TriforceofCourage, Know-Kname on deviantART; OneWingedHeron53, and Nightshade the Patient One for reminding me why I write what I write. Best friends, I hope this did you some good, the Dark Lord Link is back to his former glory! *evil laugh*

This story was, as you saw in the first chapter, originally meant to be a serious story of originality. But, the way I had it going at the time it would have failed even worse so I went with humor (Influenced by UK-Underworld, NightShade the Patient One, Maximus-Reborn, and all the other awesome authors that wrote for this cause.) Thanks to those who supported me, who supported this fiction, and even more importantly, supported this pairing.

I say that because a story is a story, but lets be honest; most stories I see nowadays in the other sections I read from are just same-old same-old. Nothing new, canon pairings and ladida. With hope and more ambitious writers, we can bring new things to our horizons and try what hasn't been tried or not tried enough.

Captain Falcon, Doc Mario, Snake, and Peppy were not hurt during the writing of this Fiction.


	6. Day 4: Gasolicous!

**A/N:** The last chapter was...inadequate. Unacceptable. Stupid. Revolting in quality. Need I go on, or do I get the point? (Mind puzzle.) But I was just getting back into the flow of it all...so yes. Enjoy, worked extra hard on this one and did some explaining to accommodate the lack of the previous update.

* * *

**Super Smash Bros: The Love of I**

**Chapter VI: Day IV, Gasolicous**

"So, she threw you out your own window." Fox stated. He and Link were back in the king's dorm, Link lying in bed with his left leg in its cast. He bore a scowl on his face with his arms crossed, not pleased with his condition. Master Hand still had yet to send someone to fix his window, and the rain was slowly entering through the balcony. Snake had somehow recovered within the last hour he spent in the Infirmary yesterday.

He suspected Zelda had something to do with it. More or less, he found one of his last Blue Potion missing from his pouch, with a note inside containing a suspiciously familiar handwriting style. Then again, anyone could forge someone else's handwriting. So he had yet to actually figure out who was responsible, aside from the fact that Zelda openly told him her own actions, promising to replace it later. But in his current state of absolute paranoia, he refused to believe a blatant fact.

He turned to the Fox commander, face unchanging.

"No, she dressed up as the most horrible creature I know and strutted into my room. _I,_ threw _myself,_ through my _own_ window, as a _reflex_." Link clarified, adding heavy feeling to key words. Fox leaned back in surprise.

"...Oooo-kaaaay." Fox stretched his reply with a hint of curiosity and worry, giving Link the most weirdest look he could muster, eying the hero/king as if he had lost his mind. Fox looked up to the picture of Ivy. She didn't seem all that bad, a little dark looking and seemingly sinister, but not lunatic. Hell, he even wished he met her. But after sighting a fur coat resting on the side of the chair she sat on changed his mind.

Fox had arrived this morning, just after Samus left to brawl and then spend time on her ship. He came to find out exactly what happened, and even though Link gave his utmost effort to explain the last few days...Fox knew he'd need a psychologist afterwords. Fearing that some kind of disease that causes insanity would soon overcome him if he tried to process the tale further.

* * *

Samus in her Varia suit, was currently battling Zelda. It was no surprise to her, nor was it to Zelda. Master Hand's most sold out fights often involved the beauty of Hyrule, and the seductive hunter from the distant stars. Why was it so popular of a match? Samus had a good idea, but refused to dwell on it. Not like pummeling Master Hand would change anything.

Zelda charged up her Din's Fire spell, ready to scorch Samus as she dashed towards the princess. Samus let a rocket fly, hoping to end the match quickly, but grunted in annoyance as the princess altered her style to Sheik and jumped away.

'_She could've just used Farore's Wind, or whatever Link called it..._' She thought, still finding magic a difficult thing to believe in. The Sheikah readied some needles and sent them flying, some managed to dig into the back of Samus Aran while others fell harmlessly to the endless void below the Pokemon Stadium.

Whipping about and brushing her back against a tree prop to remove the needles, Samus charged her cannon and shot just as Sheik landed. The energy ball connected, sending Sheik flying but not far enough. She caught the edge, barely holding on. The blast left her singed, and obviously drained of energy.

Sheik looked up, ready to pull herself away from the edge and continue the fight but noticed a pair of titanium alloy boots firmly placed before her. Her ruby eyes traveled up further, and with horror, she noticed the already recharged cannon of Samus Aran's battle suit. She closed her eyes and waited for the sting...

Instead, she received a kick to the face and fell back in surprise. Just before she hit the invisible boundary, she looked up at the bounty hunter, shock written all over her face, well, what little could be seen.

"What in Din's name was that fo-" She could not finish her demand before she passed the boundary and was teleported from the stage.

Samus shrugged.

"Alright, next time I'll just blow your head off. Excuse me for lightening the blow." She muttered to herself, ignoring the overly cheering crowd and some idiot yelling something about marrying him.

It really made no difference to her how she ended the match, but she recalled Link mentioning something about...what was it...compassion? Something about compassion for the opponent's pride. Her thoughts were interrupted when the arena went black and she was standing once again in the Battle Preparation lounge where Sheik and Zelda stood, healed and all. All signs of the previous battle were completely reversed. The only thing left was whatever feeling from any injuries, but that would wear off soon.

"Well...Thank you. I think..." Zelda muttered, having heard Samus' last statement over the battle cam. Sheik; on the other hand, glared, rubbing the side of her cheek.

"...Thanks." She muttered, sounding ungrateful. Samus still couldn't figure out how they were two different people outside of the arena, but while within, they were the same. It was giving her a headache. Speaking of the devil, she made her way towards Link's room, hoping he didn't swallow all the aspirins already.

* * *

"Well, I'm going to go, uh, make sure Peppy isn't trying to teach Ness to do a barrel roll. Again." Fox muttered, making his way to the door.

"You mean he's still trying to get the poor boy to fly your metal hawks?" Link asked with a look of slight disbelief on his face.

"...No...I just couldn't think of a better excuse." the Star Fox commander replied with a grin. Link huffed to himself.

"Right. Such support..."

"Look, I'll bring Samus by early, that should cheer you up."

"Don't, just leave her be." Link replied.

"Alright. Wario then."

At the name, Link's face instantly became whiter than Infinite Mountain. His eyes almost popped out of his sockets with a shrill scream, grew legs and try to jump through the now repaired windows (courtesy of the WireFrame repair corp.)

The lone WireFrame figure who resembled Zelda's stance but took a shape similar to Samus' immediately grabbed all of its tools, shoved them into the tool box, and bolted past Fox at the mention of that horrible...thing. Fox looked at Link's face, almost thinking his sight was going bad. Last time he looked at the hero, he was not albino.

"You okay there, champ?" Fox tried. Link did not reply. He did not move. Someone dropped a black sausage in the hallway with a resounding splat that broke the silence. Odd, it's usually a pin... Fox looked outside the door to see Game and Watch still burning his meat over some flat, 2D grill.

'_This mansion was never sane...was it. It's only a matter of time before I too am consumed._' He concluded to himself. As soon as he was back to his dimension, he planned on moving into his Psychologist's office.

Turning his eyes back to Link, he noted he was still white, but his nostrils seemed to have shrunk.

"Oh yeah. Wario and his gas. How could I forget?" He muttered to himself. Fox walked over and grabbed Link's shoulders. He tried shaking him for a response, but got no such reaction. He called his name, tried slapping, eventually punching but still no effect. He remembered...it.

* * *

***Two Years Before***

It was the anniversary of the Smash Bros core, everyone was having a good time enjoying themselves. Some, along with every Assist Trophy, sat in the dining hall and ate an endless feast, others watched a movie in the massive living quarters. There were no matches for the next seven days, it was Master Hand's way of thanking the smashers for their continued involvement in the tournaments.

Link wore a simple black blind fold and had the pin with a tail in his left hand. He jabbed at random angles, already puncturing Mario's hat, stabbing Marth in the chest, and deflating a balloon in his quest to hit the target. Samus stood on the other side, the hugest, goofiest grin on her face, alongside the few others who agreed to keep this encounter a secret from Zelda and Sheik. Snake smoked his cigarette and chuckled at the sight. Ganondorf roared in laughter while placing a ridiculous bet on the 'donkey'.

What Link didn't know, was that the donkey was actually Wario in a bent over position digging into the refrigerator. Samus knew he'd never forget this, and that he may never forgive her, but it was too good a chance to pass up. And besides. Link needed to loosen up, he was always formal and distant. This did not sit well with her sarcastic side she only showed when near him. Granted, he was trying to be open and accepting this game was a testament to that, but it would be boring without a big bang to end it all, a grand finale if you will. And thus, Wario's awkward pose, and unknowing voluntary for said finale.

"Just a little to the left, Link!" Samus called over the shouting, the betting and the music in the background. Din, Nayru, and Farore weeped for their hero as he pinched Wario's backside and watched as the kitchen area of the Mansion suddenly erupted with a loud, gross sounding noise and enveloped in yellow smoke.

Snake was melded against the wall, black charcoal like markings littering his face and his head ban and hair had been forced backwards. Samus stood still, eyes wide and her long blonde hair in a similar position of Snake's. She was utterly paralyzed and in shock, forgetting to hide behind something prior to her planned finale. The stink was probably what paralyzed her.

Ganondorf found himself in the television set, and the audience of the Living room were in too much shock of the sudden explosion to see. Falco was completely devoid of his blue feathers, and passed out. Bowser's shell was missing, but he was too busy trying to cover his nose and remove the stench from his nostrils to notice. Ike, who was walking into the kitchen at the time, found himself behind the door, pushed their by the dangerous gas. Wario had been launched into the wall, breaking right through the refrigerator and lodging his head in the stone.

Fox, who was currently spending some time with Krystal up stairs in one of the lounging rooms, fell out of his chair when the sudden quake erupted, thinking it was an earthquake. She too, found herself startled and hiding underneath the table with him. Fox's shyness overcame him and he fainted at the intimate distance of the two.

The unfortunate hero was still standing where he had been when he punctured Wario's buttocks. In-fact, as soon as anyone noticed such a feat, he fell back stiffer than wood. Upon hitting the floor, he even bounced as if he was a ply board. His eyes were wide open, the blindfold had disappeared, his face was charred black and half his tunic and his hat was missing.

Link was out for days in a coma, and no one would go near him until ROB and the WireFrame's cleaned him up. They had to use tomato juice to fully remove the smell.

It took a whole five hours for the WireFrames to dislodge a very, very, awful smelling Wario from the inside of the refrigerator. Falco hid himself in his room, refusing to come out until he had thoroughly cleaned himself and his feathers had regrown. Ganondorf and Bowser were too grumpy to approach after being affected like so from the prank. Lucas had nightmares that Zelda did her best to chase away, how she accomplished this, not even she knew. Ike, ate out from that day forward, not wanting to risk getting caught in another nuclear crossfire.

* * *

"Good times." Fox muttered with heavy nostalgia. Link still did not respond. Fox knew he'd regret this, but if physically slapping the Moblins out of Link didn't work, it was worth a shot.

"Ivy's here."

At that, there was a sudden gush of wind that passed by his legs, a flash of colors, and Link was no longer sitting in the bed. Fox's eyes widened, all that was left was the sheets, Link's hat (Which he still had no idea where they found it after the events of...it.) and his cast which was still spinning on the floor. The anthropomorphic commander looked around, not seeing a sign of the Hylian warrior. Finally, he heard the sound of teeth chattering from the closet. With caution, he opened the door and switched on the lights.

Link sat in a corner, facing the wall and holding his knees to his chest, shaking profusely. He was muttering to himself as if he was extra hyper, his hair seemed to stand on end and Fox almost thought the name Ivy gave the Hylian too much literal shock. His head twitched, almost as if he was locked in this closet for years and had finally lost his mind.

"...find a happy place, find a happy place, find a happy place-!" Link continued to repeat to himself.

Fox's face had gone from surprise to neutrality. He closed the door to the closet and walked to the door of Link's room, whistling innocently. He'd just let someone else deal with this.

* * *

Samus stomped down the hallway, not really intending on stomping, but the weight of her Varia brought light vibrations with each step.

She continued to walk, seemingly in a not-so annoyed mood lately. Falcon wasn't stalking her anymore today, being a first, she took the chance to enjoy some peace of mind. She hadn't seen Snake at all, but she suspected he was back in Link's room trying to poison his head with some kind of romantic nonsense about her.

But for some reason, she felt like letting that go for now. If he was there, she'd go easy on him and just give him a boot out the door rather than toss him across the garden on the first floor like usual. The thought was tempting, but she just felt more...compassionate. Which is a weird feeling, but it kinda felt new and refreshing.

She passed by Marth, prince of Altea who gave her a curtsy bow into which she simply nodded in turn.

"Samus, may I have a word with you?" His soft voice suddenly called behind her. Not being in a hurry, and having not thought up a good reason to decline, she turned around.

"What."

"I would like to inquire about the health of your consort. I was hoping to face him soon in a match for his title." He stated simply. Samus' eye twitched at the word 'consort'.

"...My. What?" She said with great warning. Marth took a step back, he was told by Ike that Samus and Link were...romantically attracted to themselves, although that is an understatement of the story Ike described from whom he got from Ganondorf who heard from Snake. Ganondorf probably added some details that weren't true, however.

"I was under the impression that you and the king were...well...how best to put it..." He seemed at a loss of words, almost as if he was not even sure what he is trying to say. Apparently Samus however knew, she cocked her arm cannon in a deliberately slow manner and took her time aiming at Marth's chest. The prince began to sweat heavily at the notion.

"Who. Said. That." The scorned and now overly enraged huntress demanded slowly.

Now at an utter loss, Marth stuttered nonstop in an attempt to process his current situation, answer Samus' question, and find a means to escape an imminent missile being sent his way.

It didn't seem like it would bold well for the good prince.

* * *

Samus stormed into the room where Link was supposed to be sleeping and recovering. She strode straight to the drapes of Link's newly repaired window and practically tore the clothe from the bars holding them. The sun beamed into the room, lighting it up from pitch blackness to mid-day glow.

"Link, wake up. We have to talk." She growled like a tigress. Watching as Marth pulled himself off the drain pipe which he jumped to and climbed down in time to avoid the missile she fired at him. She took notice that she heard no movement or reply from her friend.

"Link." Still silent.

"Link?" This time, she turned around and noticed the bed was empty. She immediately removed her helmet and looked again. Still nothing there.

She grabbed the sheets and flung them to the side. What she found was an empty bed. She dropped to her knees and looked under the bed, still nothing. Then she heard it, the sound of clattering teeth coming from the closet.

She narrowed her eyes. With caution, she approached the door and grabbed hold of the knob. Slowly, she turned it and peered inside. Her jaw dropped. Link was in the fetal position, holding his arms tightly and shaking pretty pathetically.

She approached Link's form, still unsure what the hell happened, but he seemed so scared right now. Her first thought was doubting the power of that relic that supposedly gives him infinite courage. Her second thought was why he was in the closet. Her third thought was, '_If he doesn't slow down with those choppers, I'll grab some nuts and make peanut butter._'

"Link, get up." She commanded.

"Ganondorf wet his bed when he was young...Pin the tail on the donkey is evil...Chuck Norris is a lie..." He rambled on random thoughts.

Samus' was very weirded out by Ganondorf wetting his bed. What was even more of a mystery was how Link managed to find that out. Somethings were just not explainable. The another thought struck her.

'_Chuck Norris is a lie...? Who the hell is Chuck Norris? Did I _miss_ something here?!_'

She grabbed his shoulders and pulled him up. Doing her best to block out the rest of his ramblings from temporary insanity, she placed him on her shoulders and left the closet. She looked from the door to the bed and decided that carrying Link to Zelda in this...state... would only arouse suspicions and more...embarrassing rumors. Even though she was liking the fact he was utterly helpless at the moment and completely submissive, she decided to save his face and dropped him on the bed.

Deactivating her suit, she smacked Link's head.

"Ow!" He cried out. Upon seeing Samus in front of him, he added, "What was that for?!"

Samus shook her head. She forgot that he was in a state she had never seen him in before. Instead, she replied with a question of her own.

"...Ganondorf wets the bed?" She inquired. Link's eyes widened and he gave a paranoid look to both sides before whispering.

"...Who told you that?" He asked.

"You did. Why were you in the closet on the floor, blabbering nonsense?" She asked.

" I don't remember, actually...Wait, Fox was here earlier, he said he'd send...oh Nayru no..." Link answered in utter horror. Samus raised her eyebrow at his vague response.

"He'd send who?"

The door was suddenly kicked open and a short, stubby little man with a wicked lightning like mustache in a yellow hat and blue pull-overs stood with a sickly grin. The sudden smell of garlic and onions infested the room like a plague and the sinisterly small eyes of the fat Italian man narrowed darkly.

"Guess-a who?" He called in a sing-song voice.

Samus paled more than Link did. The memory of that day hitting her like a semi truck on the highway. Link grabbed Samus and jumped from his bed, making a mad dash to the window.

"Where are we going?" Samus called, immediately answered by Link.

"Through that window!"

"Without a ladder, are you insane?!"

"I had one installed by the WireFrames!"

"How are we talking so quickly, yet moving _so slowly_?" Samus asked in a frantic and almost accusing tone.

"_I have no idea!_" Link replied in an equally frantic with a hint of panic tone.

Wario turned around and leaned over. A bestial growl from his stomach sent the two friends into a frenzy. But before they could get out of the balcony and to the safety of the ladder, a small explosion could be seen from the planet's surface and everything went black.

Every smasher in the mansion was coughing harshly as the smell invaded their nostrils without mercy. Out in space, Fox gasped from his Arwing, feeling the tremor from the exploding gas.

"Master Hand! Wario blew up another room!" Red wined, deeply disturbed and very annoyed.

"Damn you, flatulence. Damn you..." A large, white gloved hand muttered in the Final Destination field.

* * *

**A/N:** The absolute, weirdest thing I ever wrote for the world of Fan Fiction. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to hide until the nuclear wave from Wario passes over and Samus stops hunting me. In the meanwhile, review at will!

**UPDATE 6-18-2013:**

I removed the fourth wall jokes, I feel they kind of killed this chapter, so they're outta here.


	7. Day 5: Part 1

**A/N:** Sorry for the delay, guys. Been doing some new projects and got caught up in them. It's extra long to compensate for the wait. ;)

**Super Smash Bros: The Love of I**

**Chapter VII: Day V Part I  
**

"Are you sure of this?"

"Yeah I'm 'sure of this'! If I wasn't, I wouldn't of brought it up!"

"You know what might happen if we try it. Master Hand may figure it out and cancel it before we get the chance."

"If he cancels this, I'll personally shove every Smash Ball I can get my hands on right up his less-than complete a-..."

"-Alright, calm yourself! ...I agreed to it, I'm only stating that it's almost not worth the risk."

"What, are you scared now? Are you afraid? Are you going to crawl into the fetal position and cry like a big baby?"

"Oh, hush... Let's get this over with, I feel another coma coming on."

"Yeah yeah, fine...Don't get your fancy tights in a nagging knot..."

* * *

The crowd was roaring, the stage was set and the Smash Brother's logo had just finished playing. Fireworks shot about, the people cheered with excitement, chanting their favorite Smasher's name and waving signs about.

A sudden and powerful sound exploded from the monstrously large speakers at the corners of the stadium, and a massive display made up of smaller nodes and screens began playing a loop of clips of a particular smasher garbed in a blue skin-tight garb or a large orange battle suit.

At the song's intro, the crowd roared louder than before.A sinister laugh followed after as the track played on.

From the top of the arena, a silver platform became visible before a giant screen playing an intro video of one unforgettably dominate and well known smasher. The clips showed her previous battles that made her famous in the core, her struggle for the Smash championship and memorial fights where she shocked the world watching at large.

"Ladies and gentlemen. Please welcome to the arena, the Smash Bros runner up for the championship. Hailing from the lost space station of K2-L, standing at 6 foot 4 inches, legendary bounty hunter and the Game no one can play, Samus Aran!" An announcer called from the booths above the stands. The crowd cheered as Samus' intimidating theme continued to blare the crowd deaf.

The red and orange armored form of Samus dropped to the arena's surface with a heavy thud, landing on her knee. She stood, her eyes passing over the crowd behind her helmet. Although she had many fans, most of them were silly about their admiration for her. 'Marry me' signs greeted her everywhere, it irked her to no end. But secretly she laughed at the notions, it was a compliment to be worshiped so, and she knew why they loved her. She was the baddest fighter in the core, the meanest and most relentless gladiator. Her reputation struck fear everywhere her name was mentioned. It didn't matter who she rivaled in a match with, she was always able to make it a good fight.

Almost every smasher in the mansion has gone after Link's title as King of Kings. It was an undesired title for a championship amongst most smashers, and the blame belonged to Master Hand who wanted the Smash Bros association to appear like that of a gladiator-ish fighting organization. But he fooled no one, only the crowd. They knew almost nothing about how the fighting worked, how pain was temporary. But they did know as Master Hand proudly says, entertainment is forever. No one really dies in the combats which are simulated so that none of Master Hand's "Biggest Friends and most Dearest of Glorious Heroes" and all the other nonsense that he spewed to the News of Smash City could be harmed. Permanently, at least. The crowd knew that much, but anymore they were ignorant to. The workings of Smash Brothers is closely guarded by the Hands and the Wireframes.

Master Hand may have in-fact, taken care of the fighters. But the way he ran the matches sometimes, was utterly cruel. Lucas once was booked against three metal-wireframes, because the crowd wanted to see Lucas more involved. What no one but Samus knew was that Lucas asked to left out of the majority of matches, so Master Hand engineered the battle so that it would seem like Lucas was injured to the point of his role in the tournament were cut in half.

Personally, Samus thought it was a very unnecessary match All it did, besides giving Lucas a reason to take a leave without the crowd pushing for him to come back, was put the boy in a battle where he took the brunt of the offense and only lasted a minute before being KO-ed. In fact, her distaste for the giant hand of unnatural properties, only increased when he decided _and_ announced that the King of Kings will run the show for a day, when she blatantly informed him herself that Wario gassed him. Again.

...Fortunately for her, Link took the full of the assault last night, so she was spared an almost twelve hour coma.

Link was in no, absolutely no condition to fight, much less decide who was going to beat the mess out of each other for the next twenty four hours. The only way they got him out of his coma was convincing Sheik to hold a piece of garlic up to his nose until the nightmares he had of Wario woke him up. His room was completely gone, it laid in the gardens below. He wasn't all that happy about it.

Then again, neither was Master Hand who thought this was all caused by the king. And this was his supposed punishment. To run the show for a day while sick and tortured by the still present odor.

Samus removed her helmet, getting ready to make an announcement. Seeing this, the wire frames behind the stage cut her music off.

But, Samus being the resourceful predator that she is, she and her good friend devised a plan that would definitely catch Master Hand's attention and force him to reconsider punishing Link with tournament manager in the future, added, get him back _off_ the tournament so he can continue to rest.

"...A little bird told me earlier that a certain elf is calling the shots around here for today."

A resounding clap from the masses answered her statement, and Samus waited for them to finish before continuing.

"Not only that, he, in his current state – which is less than a hundred percent, mind you all – still has his throne. Everyone who has stepped up to take the title, have been brought down by the Sacred Beast."

Again, the crowd cheered for the current champion. Samus smiled a little, that battle she took part in against him to face Mario for the tournament was indeed a memorable one. She took a deep breath.

"Everyone...except..."

She paused for effect, catching the crowd's attention and making sure everyone in the core was paying as much attention as the fans were. No one could see the wicked and sly smile she bore at this moment, not for the thousand in attendance who either watched her or the large screen that was linked to a camera following her every move.

"-...Me."

At this, the crowd gave mixed responses. While Link's fans booed, Samus' fans cheered.

"I know, I know, we all like our beloved hero where he is. And, believe it or not, I've got respect for the kid. He did beat me at Final Destination last year, but we haven't had an official match since, and I never challenged him for his undisputed throne."

Mumbling was all that answered her, they began to see where she was going with this. Pacing back and forth like a caged lioness, Samus continued laying her plan out.

"Seeing as he's been in the less-than-best condition lately, I thought I'd help my good buddy out with a main event for everyone to see. Me, and Link, Smash Brother's title at Final Destination. _Tonight_!"

This, won her cheers back. The crowd was, of course, consisted of fans with several idols in the Core, but at least half if not most, were fans of Link and Samus, the main two of the few top fighters of the Core. And popular so-called "dream matches" were most revolved around Samus vs Link for the title.

Her music hit again, using a mix that was played when she won, starting mid-way through as she was just stepping onto a pedestal. But the lights died out and her music ended abruptly, the pedestal lost power and would not teleport Samus from the arena. She looked up at the screen, this usually meant another smasher was going to come out.

A new song played suddenly, this one slightly faster and more upbeat than her own, definitely an intimidating tune with omens of brutal combat. Many smashers knew the theme song and feared it so for what usually followed it. She knew that song, too. But, unlike her fellow smashers, she didn't fear it one bit. For she knew the Sacred Beast on a personal level, and though what he was capable of was indeed petrifying, he was still a child trapped in a man's body.

Her suspicions were confirmed. Link's fans gave an uproar of cheers as they waited for their hero to appear in the arena. They haven't seen him in a week or so, but rumor on the streets said he was taken out of action recently and is not medically cleared to perform.

The hero's intro movie began playing, while his song played for a bit before dying out as Link himself sitting in the golden throne which the undisputed champion would sit, appeared.

"Samus, I've fought everyone here. I even 'played the Game' when I won the throne, but I haven't had a match since that really pushed me to my limits. Yes... The Game against the Beast, I like that idea. Two virtually well-balanced warriors going to war."

As the crowd looked back and forth, watching the scene play out and wondering exactly why Link wasn't in the arena himself to answer title challenges like usual, Samus nodded. A few of the fans raised their eyebrows when they caught the raspy tone of Link's voice. He sounded sick.

"Very well, since I do indeed possess the right to name a match, I decree that Samus and I shall clash head-on at Final Destination for the Smash Brother's title. But the beast will prevail..."

"Not if you can't beat the Game, first." Samus retorted.

Not even Link nor Samus' theme songs could be heard after the cacophony the crowd unleashed itself in burning anticipation.

* * *

"Ugh...you stink..."

Link glared at his friend for stating the obvious.

Link and Snake walked down the hallway towards the mess hall, leaving the throne room where the cameras were set up for his speech. Snake had a clothe pin snapped tight on his nostrils to keep the left-over smell from Wario's nuclear eruption out. Ike passed the two by, giving a wink to Link as if to commend him for finding a reason to avoid a battle with him, before he gagged and hurried off.

Ike had grown cocky in the Core, having beaten Ganondorf one-on-one a week before and boosting his respect in the league. But most could see the respect he earned was starting to get to him. Snake pulled out another cigarette, lighting it up as he ignored the mercenary.

"So, you and Sam are going to go at it soon, eh?" Snake asked, surprised by the turn of events. Link had lost all interest in fighting since most of the Core targeted his championship. He took a whiff of his cigarette, bellowing the smoke up into the air.

"Yes, it's what the crowd wants."

"Alight, I'll grab a body bag."

"What?"

"Ha! I was kidding. You're not fooling me, kid. I'm smarter than you take me for. What's the real reason behind this sudden match? Samus was never really interested in the championship when you took it, and she wasn't interested in getting anymore popular with the fans, either. If she really was after that title, you'd be the biggest dead duck sitting in a pond of Wario's...flatulence."

"I never thought you to be a fool. Well, except when you try to spy on Samu-" Snake clasped his hand over Link's mouth quickly, a wide-eyed expression gracing his middle-aged face. The spy looked from side to side before leaning close.

"How the hell did you know about that?!" He whispered into Link's ears.

Link shrugged.

"Well, who doesn't? Every time you try, I see you fall down to the ground, screaming your head off. It doesn't help that Samus' room is just above mine..."

Snake laughed a bit, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Yeah, well, good thing her aim with kitchen knives are bad enough to miss me, but unfortunately good enough to cut the rope I'm using... Wait, your room is below hers? Huh, I guess when you two have a certain urge to see each oth-"

"What are you two doing now?" Samus demanded suddenly, also equipped with a clothe pin to ward off the stink. Snake jumped a little, not expecting her to pop up so quickly after the arena segment.

"Talking."

Snake answered simply, before high-tailing it out of the immediate vicinity. Samus watched him leave with a blank stare, her hands on her hips in a scolding fashion. She turned her gaze to Link who was only grinning at the older man.

"He wasn't trying to put things in your head again, was he?" Link felt a tad bit threatened by the question, Samus wasn't in the best of moods since the Wario incident and, even though he of the two should be more upset, was more neutral than angry. But when Samus was mad, just stay out of her way.

"Nope. No more than usual, at least."

"Finally, a break. I want to ask you a quick favor."

"Of course."

"Book me a match against Wario. Better yet, make it a triple threat: me, Zelda and Sheik, with Ike." Link shrugged. But on the inside, he cringed. Samus was planning on maiming the fat man for the destruction he caused. And though he didn't want to hear the name 'Wario' again for awhile, he'd rather book the match than say no to Samus and have to wait for his teeth to come out his 'other end'.

"Alright. Give him a few swings for me." He agreed before letting out a few coughs.

"Bet your precious hat I will. Now, go shower, grab something to eat and get back to resting. Make sure to eat your veggies, drink water and brush your teeth. Oh, and Doc Mario said tomato sauce will cut the stink off." Samus instructed, almost sounding like Zelda during her half-caring instructions.

Link grumbled under his breath as Samus marched down the hall to the Battle Simulators.

"I hate tomatoes and veggies..."

She smiled as she vaguely heard his comment. There was an odd fascinating passion in torturing him with the small things.

* * *

There they were, staring at him, mocking him with their nutrition. Link frowned at the vegetables. They tasted horrible to him, he wondered what ever happened to a good old fashioned salted pork. He already did the tomato bath, which worked, but had him gagging the entire time. He could only imagine what he would do if he placed the broccoli on his plate in his mouth.

With a depressed grunt, he sipped his water, using his spoon to cut the vegetable into smaller, bite-size pieces. He inched a cut to his lips and smelt it.

Giving off a shudder, he groaned. Finally, seeing the entire mess hall watching him intently, which didn't make it any easier, he gulped and chewed the piece. Making faces that caused the younger smashers, namely Lucas, Ness and the Ice Climbers giggle, he swallowed and burped.

A cheer rose up from the male Smashers and Assist Trophies, earning a glare from the king who grumbled curses to himself.

"Who ever is responsible for this inhumane torture...should be left naked in Gerudo Desert next to the ReDead hives and the Bokoblin hideouts..."

"That's not harsh at all." Sheik's dry sarcastic voice suddenly spoke up, causing Link to jump in surprise.

"Sheik! What did I tell you about sneaking up on me like that?!"

"To not do it, but I have to entertain myself somehow."

Link felt his face twist into an unimpressed frown as he looked at the wall. He resumed grumbling to himself as the Sheikah sat next to him with her own plate of food. The delicious scent reached up and practically slapped Link's senses silly. His eyes wide with delight, and his mouth adjacent, he slowly looked to her plate to see a juicy steak, sizzling with salt and spices. It looked as if it was perfectly cooked, marinated in the right ingredients.

The king of kings let himself drool at the irresistible sight. Sheik saw this, grinning devilishly underneath her shawl. She gingerly cut a large chunk from the massive piece and stabbed it with her fork. She held it up to Link, enticing him to take a bite. Without even thinking, Link chomped at the piece of heaven, beckoning him on, only to bite air. He opened his eyes, knocked from the place of bliss he was in before a second ago, to see Sheik laughing heartily.

"Sorry, Link. Samus said you don't get to eat this until you finish your veggies."

She was enjoying this, way too much for Link. He almost felt like crying. With great sorrow, and spite for his life, Link slammed his head down on the table. A resounding smack temporarily drew the hall's attention a second time, before they realized it was just Sheik being Sheik next to Link.

Seeing him in a pathetic state like this drew a pity string in her heart.

"Alright, I'll make a deal with you."

Immediately, Link sat back up, hands held up and eyes full of begging. Sheik couldn't resist laughing again.

"Samus told me that Marth made her angry the other day when he said something to her about you that I had to swear not to tell you. She wants me to get him back, with this." And with that, Sheik looked from side to side and pulled out a bottle that read 'Laxatives', below the name was a basic description of the medicine's use that read 'Clears Constipation and Eases Bowels' from her suit. Link briefly looked over the Sheikah, not seeing where she hid the bottle at, before he processed what the label said.

"Wait...you want me to help you prank Marth?"

Sheik nodded, her eyes filled with miscreant glee.

"Just for a piece of steak?"

"Nope, for the whole plate."

"OKAY, I'LL DO IT!" Link immediately agreed a little too loudly, shoving his index finger to the roof as if in triumph. Sheik leaned back, obviously not expecting such vigorous determination to get his hands on a fine steak such as this. Again, the whole hall had their eyes on the smash king.

* * *

Link and Sheik stalked a few meters behind Marth, waiting for the perfect moment to add to his meal. They hid behind a door, trying not to give anyone who saw them any suspicion of ill-intent. Waiting for Bowser to grab his hefty meal (which made Link drool again as he picked up an even bigger piece of steak than the one that waited for him at his table) and moved on, Marth stopped to have a few words with Peach who sat with Mario and Luigi.

They waited, slightly annoyed that the prince always had a mouthful to say to the Mushroom ruler.

"Hurry up, Marth, there's a big juicy steak with my name all over it...!" Link whined quietly, making Sheik roll her ruby eyes at his childish ways.

"Wipe your chin, meat boy." Sheik teased him, making him groan.

Finally, Marth gave a subtle bow before smoothly leaving the trio to their chat. He found himself the table where he, Lyn and Ike usually sat at, and placed his plate in his spot.

"So, what do you propose we do?"

"Well, I've been watching the whole mansion as you know. It's mandatory for a Sheikah. And, you know I prank most of the smashers here."

"Ah-huh." Link agreed with an unimpressed tone.

"Last time, Marth caught me and doesn't trust me so much anymore. That's where you come in. I'm going to sit next to him and I want you to give him a reason to leave his plate and the hall."

"What? How?"

"I don't know, use your imagination! You are the one whose called hero and King of Kings." Link mumbled a little viciously to himself about how his job was never easy and that they never gave him a break. He paused, a thought hitting him.

"Wait, this is all Samus' idea?"

"Yep."

"...Doesn't she just beat us into bloody pulps when we annoy her in whatever fashion fancy pants over there has?"

"Usually, but she enjoys a good prank every now and then. Beating up people can get boring, besides, need I remind you of the Ivy incident?"

Link shuddered in his boots.

"I get your point... Damn her mind games..."

"They don't call her the Game for nothing." Clearing her throat, Sheik gestured to herself, then to Marth's table, finally pointing to Link. He got her reminder and forced himself to stop dreaming about his steak and focus on the prank.

Sheik walked over and sat next to the prince of Altea, who eyed her at first. Sheik said something to him, obviously striking a conversation of interest in the good prince as he seemed to immediately forget any distrust he had for the ninja. Link thought to himself, what could possibly drive Marth from the hall? It had to be something worth his time, something very important.

Running over his mental notes of observation he took when he met Marth years ago, and all the time he and the prince spent sharing their lives, he tried to remember key elements that struck home for the Altean prince. And then, it hit him. A certain maiden.

"Ahaaa..."

He approached Marth, practicing his imagined line over and over in his head, hoping he didn't fumble on his own words.

"Marth! Master Hand said that Sheeda is in his office, and she has something to say. He just sent me to find you."

The prince looked up, a confused expression on his face before he calmly pushed his plate forward and stood. He turned to Link and jabbed a cigar into his mouth, then one into Sheik's mouth.

"This is my most happiest of days! I am now a father!" And with a sudden explosion of giddiness, Marth hopped out of the hall, skipping his way blissfully towards Master Hand's door on the top of the mansion. Sheik watched him leave with a surprised look, spitting the cigar out as Link stared at his dully.

"Well. Imagine his face when he finds out it's a false alarm."

"Hey, did you guys hear? Marth's fiancée is having his baby! Do you know where Marth is? Master Hand just sent me, I need to tell him the good news." Roy came up from behind the two. Link looked at Sheik who merrily shrugged.

"We just sent him to Master Hand's office in Final Destination." Sheik spoke up.

She waited for Link to pull Roy away and keep him busy so that she could complete her task. The Sheikah made sure she was safe before reaching into her shawl and opening her bottle which contained the very vulgar-action-inducing medicine that would leave Marth's anal canals pretty clean for the rest of the week and doused his food in it. To prevent a misfire, she threw some in his drink.

When she finished, she hid the bottle, picked up her plate and walked back to Link's table. Seeing her on the move, Link dismissed himself and followed.

"Well?"

"A deals a deal."

She pushed her prize over to him, and grinned as he lit up like a Christmas Tree. Immediately, he shoved as much as he could fit in his mouth and Sheik feared he had been cloned and raised by Kirby. He stopped suddenly, pausing while his cheeks were on the verge of exploding. He turned to her and started to talk, but his mouth was still too full.

"...What?"

He tried again, succeeding only in spitting all over the Sheikah, causing her to emit a grossed-out noise of disapproval. She looked at her suite, gingerly wiping the chunks off.

"Swallow first, you moron..." Link did so.

"You have a match that's about to start!"

"Huh? Who with?"

"You're teaming up with Samus, Zelda, and Ike to fight Wario in a triple threat Stock's battle."

* * *

"Welcome to the Mushroom Kingdom field, ladies and gentlemen! The following match is a Survival battle. First smasher to reduce their opponent's stock to zero wins!"

Her intro song hit, and the fans roared. The sinister voice of her song blarring and the lights flickered an orange glow. The guitar track was raw and symbalised power and intelligence, as well as a deadly dose of merciless aggression.

"Please welcome, the undisputed contender for the Smash King throne, the Game...Samus Aran!"

The huntress dropped from the sky in her Zero suit, landing on her knee and palm. She stood up and gave a single taunt to the crowd, part of every smasher's intro. She hated it, it felt so stupid to sit there, give a twirl and say a line or two while every guy out there fanboyed all over her. But it was good pay, so she couldn't complain about it.

An orchestra of at least a hundred or so instruments blared the Hylian anthem.

"Please welcome, the princess of Hyrule and sister of the Smash King, Princess Zelda and her alter ego, Sheik!"

With a shining radiance, Zelda descended like an angel to land gracefully. She spun in a three-sixty angle, briefly flashing her form from herself to Sheik and then back.

Ike's intro song began, drowning out the crowd as he appeared. He came crashing down to the castle of Peach, Ragnel striking the stone and embedding itself deep. Ike landed next to the sword, standing tall and gripping the blade before ripping it free.

"Give a warm applause for the terrifyingly strong, Ike!"

What sounded like an Italian restaurant theme with guitars vaguely heard in the background began to play as the unforgettable fat man rode in on his bike, as smelly and dirty as ever. He gave a nasty grin to the crowd who booed him, they too smelt last night's apocalyptic pesticides.

"And their opponent, the gassy consumer of garlic, Mr. Vulgar Vile, Wario!"

The Smashers took their places on the arena, preparing for the battle. They knew why they were here, and they knew of the inevitable destruction Samus was about to unleash on Wario for his attack last night. Sheik, Zelda and even Ike almost felt sorry for the fat man...

Almost.

The Game herself glared red knives through her blond locks, at a seemingly careless Wario. But, like the predator she proved herself to be, she caught him quivering slightly. She smelt the fear, and like a shark drawn to blood in the water, she charged ahead.

"FIGHT!"

* * *

**A/N:** I have made Link And Samus' intros for this story and posted them on youtube. If you'd like to see them, purely out of curiosity or if you like this story well enough to take a peak, you can find the links to the videos on my profile under "**SMASH BROS TITANTRONS** by Yours truly"

Hope you guys are enjoying this story so far! Hints and/or suggestions of these new elements are welcomed.


	8. Day 5: Part 2

**Super Smash Bros: The Love of I**

**Chapter VII: Day V**

**Part II**

Mushroom Kingdom field. Wide, clear expanses. The arena stage was massive, considerably the hugest stage of the Core's maps. In the distance, Peach's castle was visible, a small silhouette from the distance of the starting point. Samus chose this field for a single reason; it was nearly impossible to KO a Smasher from the land without traveling a fair distance to the arena's edges. There was enough room on this map to hold the Sub-Space Army and the Smash Brother's Core for an all out war.

Perfect.

Now she, Ike and Sheik/Zelda could beat Wario until he flew out of the arena vertically. It would take a considerable amount of damage to KO a Smasher in that fashion, which was exactly what Samus wanted right now. A good punishing brawl for the fat man's rudeness from the night before.

"FIGHT!"

Samus dashed forward, changing her paralyzer to whip form and swinging it straight at Wario's head. The Italian nemesis in the Game's sights jumped back, narrowly avoiding being pierced with by the super-high powered voltage whip of the huntress, and mounting his motorcycle.

In a near panic, Wario put his bike into gear and sped away, tires screeching, quickly ascending in speed. Samus growled, the punishment she had hoped to dish out in the early stages of this fight being delayed. Reaching down, she tapped into her Chozonian DNA and quickened her sprint to near inhuman speeds as Wario continued to dodge her whip.

Ike followed at a considerably slower pace, his heavy form and sword hampering his agility greatly. Zelda changed to Sheik, the Sheikan assassin using her speed to nearly match Samus' abilities. Readying a few needles, Sheik leaped high into the air and shot a handful at Wario's tires. Her range forced her to aim high as if she were shooting a bow and arrow, the needles nosing down after they reached the peak of their distance before descending.

The majority were too far out of range, but one struck Wario in his leg. In reaction, Wario pulled his bike's steer bar to the side as he reached for the needle, the bike toppling over from too much weight on one side.

He came to a skidding halt, luckily for him, the damage he took was only minimum. He pushed his bike off of his round form, looking up and realizing with great horror, that Samus was within seconds of overrunning him. Her enhanced organs allowed her to keep up with Wario's bike with relative ease.

The bounty huntress having changed her whip back to paralyzer mode, charged a shot and gave a dark smile. Wario turned and began to run, but his short and stubby feet proved obsolete to the athletic form of Samus Aran.

Huffing and puffing as he ran, he glanced over his shoulder. Samus was well within range, she leaped high and aimed her weapon.

Wario's defense mechanism activated a chain reaction in his belly, which began to bloat rather oddly. Samus' eyes widened as she witnessed the beginning of Wario's signature move. Before the Game could dodge it, Wario unleashed the fums building within his belly.

'_How the hell can he do that at will!?_'

She did not have time to dwell on the question, as her vision became blurred and hindered by a green fog. Her damage meter skyrocketed passed the five-hundred mark, that move was as strong as any Final Smash.

Ike and Sheik watched in horror as their team mate was engulfed in the sickly, and rather comical situation she found herself in. They came to a stop to watch, expecting Samus to be sent flying to the other side of the arena like so many other unlucky Smashers before her. This was not their first time facing Wario since the Sub-Space invasion, rather, Samus had fought the little man before in matches, but usually on neutral terms.

This, just got way more personal than it was before. At least for Samus, it did.

A few paralyzer shots were sent out at random, obviously the bounty huntress' attempt to blind-shoot Wario at least once before being hurled beyond the boundaries. Sheik and Ike shared a dumbfounded look. How was she still in the center of that death-chamber?

Out of sheer luck, one of the shots struck the fat Italian biker. He shook for several second before falling over, totally stunned from the extra power Samus programmed into the weapon for this specific match.

Finally, the smoke cleared, and both Ike and Sheik soon saw the form of Samus holding onto her paralyzer, she had somehow configured it in the split second she had to operate in both whip and fire mode, using the whip to anchor herself to a nearby tree that began wilting from the poisonous gas.

A large group of the crowd held up signs reading "Save the environment, condemn Wario's Buttocks!"

She coughed hysterically, her eyes dripping with tears as the stink nearly knocked her completely off her feet. She clenched her eyes shut, using her free hand to scratch and wipe at her nostrils in a desperate attempt to get the smell out of her lungs. She felt utterly sick, sicker than she had ever felt in her life.

Finally, she broke her whip's grip on the tree and instead of jumping on Wario's unmoving form – which a few of his limbs twitched in a constant interval – she bolted the other way for fresh air.

A Goomba spawned near her, it spotted the vulnerable huntress and began running towards her. But Samus was too busy wiping and coughing and blowing her nose as clear as was possible to notice the weak enemy approaching her. Her damage meter was near the seven-hundred mark, a feather would be able to KO her at this point.

"Samus, watch out for the Goomba!" Ike called as both he and Sheik continued to close in on Wario.

"What?" Samus called back, still blinded from the gas.

"I said watch out for the Goomba!"

"Goomba?! What the-?!"

Before she could sight the miniature mushroom, it tackled her. Samus was sent flying high, well beyond the vertical boundaries.

"A Goomba?! Are you _kidding_ me?! Of all the enemies, a stupid _Goomba_?! Ugh!" The huntress shouted out loud in utter frustration just before she hit the barrier and was KO-ed.

The scoreboard keeping track of the Smashers' stats subtracted one from Samus Aran's five stocks. The huntress respawned on a small platform away from the battlefield, a teleporter sat to her left and the door leading back into the Core stood to her right. A few Wireframes sat near a desk, operating the field's mechanics like simulated enemies such as the Goomba that cost her a stock, or items that the Smashers could use. All Smashers in these battles could either step on the teleporter and reenter the battle if the rules would allow it, or forfeit by stepping back into the Core through the door to her right.

Samus was far from over. She never forfeited a match. She was still reeling from the gassing, but determined to whip the fat man to the extent that it would be painful to sit on his rear, she made her way towards the teleporter.

The smell that still engulfed her form hit the Wireframes. As one smelled the stench, it collapsed to the floor and disintegrated. Soon, the others passed out as well. She paid the frames no mind. A thought hit her, she stepped over to the computers and looked around, making sure no one could see her. Analyzing the data input, she sat down in the chair and removed enemy spawns so she didn't have to worry about that happening again. Before she stood up, she caught a glance of a line that struck her interest, it read "Smasher Respawn Position" that was set currently on the opposite side of the arena from her target and team-mates. Grinning, she played with the settings.

As she stepped on the portal, soon to be back in the fray, a closet door opened and more Wireframes wearing gas-masks walked in, resuming the positions the previous Wireframes were assigned to. They activated the teleport, and in a bright flash, Samus stood right over Wario's position. He was still stunned.

She grinned again, it worked.

* * *

Link finished his meal, placing the plate in a pile for the House Wireframes to clean, they were differed from the standard Wireframe in that they wore pink aprons. His belly full, and a smile on his face, he left the dining area and headed for his chambers with the intent on a nap so that he would have a little more energy for his match with Samus tonight.

He really wasn't supposed to be in any matches until day seven of his recovery had passed. Doc Mario would not be pleased with him. But he noticed he hadn't seen the Doc at all since the segment he planned with Samus earlier. Usually the Doc would have come after him, remind him of his current health state and force him to cancel his match. He couldn't believe his luck.

The only reason he accepted the match was because Master Hand had plans for his championship reign, the great hand had devised the show so that a match's out-come determined the settings of the next. Master Hand was getting considerable wealth with Link's crusades to keep his championship, and the fact no one has been able to defeat him honorably for the title, which is the only way Link would release his throne, made it all the more profitable and captivating for the fans. Whoever took it from him had to earn it first. It was a good example to set for the newer members of the Core, and the younger Smashers as well.

Link wanted to slow down though, he could not relax with the rate he was going. The last few battles saw him at fifty percent capacity at the start, which wasn't the condition Link wanted to defend the title, but the mastermind of the Core had plans to have him back in action beginning today. Link's health was on the decline before the cold, and Doc Mario knew it. He was more tired than usual, his sleeping habits had gotten a little out of hand, and there were days where he would disappear and not approach anyone. All of these were caused by his non-stop matches since claiming the throne.

He turned the corner, waving at Lynn, the assist trophy, whom returned the gesture out of respect with a small smile. Link continued his walk, coming up on the staircase that would take him to his level. Spotting Meta Knight at the top about to descend down, he turned to the side and stepped out of sight. Meta Knight was one of the Smashers that wanted to claim his throne, and constantly returned for another battle.

When the smaller warrior reached the bottom of the stairs, he rounded the corner opposite of Link who breathed in relief. It wasn't he feared Meta Knight so much as he respected him for his integrity, but that he simply didn't want to deal with the masked crusader. All Link wanted was to get in bed and sleep until Samus, Snake or the Wireframes came to prepare him for his match.

Slipping back around and onto the stair, Link continued his trek in thought on his way to the dorm.

At times, when no one had seen him in the mess hall at lunch, or in the training room, Samus was entrusted with finding him. Usually by Zelda or Doc Mario, who noticed the changes. Samus noticed too, and though she dare not show it, she worried as well. He was one of the top fighters, she shared second place with him in the top five of the Core's best, neither ever being able to out-class the other.

Link knew he had some of the best friends he could ever ask for. But he couldn't do anything, he knew they worried for him, but there was simply nothing he could do to get Master Hand to slow down the quantity of matches. How the fans stayed interested was a mystery to him, each day he was fighting a Smasher who challenged his title or a Smasher Master Hand appointed to contest against his reign. Although each time was a different Smasher, it was still the same champion. Link himself had long grown very tired of the same thing.

Samus and Zelda had remained ever supportive, Samus being his closer friend since the first day of the first tournament. Albeit a little reluctant to befriend him, they formed a bond within hours of meeting.

Zelda sought ways to lessen the burden, doing her best to take him on errands that were engaging, like reading stories to the children. But it only did so much.

Samus, using her cunning wits and sharp knowledge of the Core's inner workings, with a bit of help from Zelda as he understood it, recently worked on a way to black-mail Master Hand into not only slowing down, but getting him back on the shelf so that he could heal up. And thus the title match of tonight. Doc Mario had already informed Master Hand that Link required at least seven days of rest, and though the hand wasn't happy about it, he agreed to post-pone Link's next wave of matches.

But they all knew that the second the eighth day came, Link would be back in the arena.

Master Hand was going to squeeze all he could out of this reign to fund the repairs caused by the Sub-Space invasion. And though he was trying to help the citizens, he was slowly killing one of the heroes involved in defeating the Sub-Space army.

Samus plan was simple. She was to engage Link in a battle-

"Link, to my office."

Master Hands voice suddenly called over the intercom in the hallway.

The hero stopped, sighing heavily at the very familiar summon. How odd, too, for he was just passing Master Hand's domain on his way to his dorm. With great reluctance, he grabbed the knob of Master Hand's door. Opening it, he stepped into a void where his vision met only stars. The room seemed to levitate in space, as the background moved with stars and the like, but the floor was invisible.

He approached the center of the void, a few cabinets floating nearby, all full of paperwork pertaining to the Core. One of them opened and a file seemed to be pulled out by an invisible force, slowly floating over to a desk. It gently landed on the center, opening up to today's matches.

Link soon felt a dread crawl up his spine. Did Master Hand find out about the plan? He hoped not, it was his only hope to take a much needed leave from the arena. Just him managing the show was tiring enough. Appearing to materialize from nothingness, a large gloved hand appeared above the desk. Link felt the hand's gaze briefly looking at him, before trailing over to the document.

The king waited for the news he feared to hear. But for a while, Master Hand said nothing. He seemed to be in a bit of thought. Finally, he heard the voice clear itself.

"I know you've yet to reach your recovery deadline and still suffer from the cold, but I wanted to ask you for a quick favor, if you could find it within your strength to accept it. It requires your role as manager tonight."

Link felt his eyebrows lower a little, as if unimpressed with the hand's constant disregard of Doc Mario's orders. But inside, he felt a little relief come, if Master Hand knew of his match tonight, that would have been the start of their conversation. Master Hand didn't want Link's involvement in the show to be lessened, especially tonight. The fans had grown a little more vocal over the last four days he had been absent without a word.

"What favor?" Link finally, and rather reluctantly spoke up.

Samus asked Link to book their match for one reason, the Hand hated a match being put in place without him being made aware of. It tended to destroy his plans for the show, Link wasn't supposed to be on until he had recovered, and Samus was booked with another match the same moment Link and her match was to take place. When Master Hand finds out about it, it will be too late, the match was already set in motion.

"Samus, Ike, Wario, Zelda and Sheik are performing as we speak in an unscheduled match. I didn't authorize it, and you're in charge of the show for tonight. I need you to intercept it and clear them from the arena."

"You want me to get in Samus and Wario's way after last night?"

The hand tapped his fingers in an impatient and annoyed fashion.

"Yes, since you were at the center of this mess. You are responsible for their heated debate!"

"I had nothing to do with Wario destroying my room. Why you would think I would want him to unleash that gas bomb after the incident from years ago, is beyond me."

"Well, you were the one to set him off the first time. Who's to say you were not responsible for this incident?"

"...You must be joking."

The hand levitated a little higher, as if giving Link a suspicious side-ways glare.

"It wasn't even my intentions the first time! I took the full force of both incidents anyway!"

The hand didn't seemed convinced, evident by his lack of input at this point. Link hung his head, it was no use trying to convince the hand it wasn't him. But it wasn't like he lost a battle, the whole Core but Master Hand surprisingly, knew that Wario was a walking bomb with a short fuse. And once Master Hand believed one thing, there was no convincing him the other way.

"Alright, I confess. I okay-ed the match so that Samus, Zelda and Sheik as well as Ike could pummel Wario for what he did last night."

Master Hand grew silent.

"You're supposed to come to me and discuss the matches with me first."

"I know this. But, I didn't want to take a chance of you declining."

"None the less, I want you to get involved and KO all of them at once! And don't ever go above my head again."

Link held his tongue, trying not to do what he knew Samus would have, and that was point out he didn't have a head. But for the sake of his other illegal match, he simply gave a bow and turned to the door. He truly did walk alone, sometimes...

* * *

Samus threw a nasty hook at Wario's chin, who was on the descend from a blow sent by Ike's upper-cut and a down kick by Sheik. The fat man went flying, his damage level nearing a hundred and seventy percent. It still wasn't enough to KO him, and Samus was happy with that. It just meant she can kick him around some more before finishing the match.

All of their stocks were reduced to one, besides Samus who still had two. Ike's percentage was pretty high as well, thanks to Wario chewing him up. Sheik and Zelda were moderately damaged, mostly caused by Wario landing on them after being sent flying by Samus' furious assaults.

Sheik reverted to Zelda who used Nayru's Love to teleport closer to Wario's position and following it up with a blast by Din's Fire. However, Wario's flight time was only increased, he still wasn't KO-ed. And though Ike and Zelda were relatively neutral, only serving as the goalies in Samus' deadly game of Fat Man Hockey, they began to grow a little frustrated that the match had lasted this long.

The fans swapped back and forth from chanting Zelda, to Ike and Samus, depending on who dished out the most damage at one point, few would chant for Wario. Mostly because there were fans who enjoyed a comical villain, despite his grotesque bodily functions that brought disasters.

Wario reversed his position and belly flopped down on Zelda. She was sent over a decent distance from the ledge, but as she made her way back, Wario landed and delivered a coup de grace with a kick that kept her from grabbing the ledge.

Ike rushed in with heavy clinking of his armor, sending a stab at Wario who managed to somehow dodge the move. Many mistake Wario's appearance for docility, but he was rather skilled in the arena. It was just his methods that made everyone else question his seriousness and effectiveness. But being able to survive a stock battle with three other Smashers looking to maim you, especially if one of them is Samus, isn't necessarily an easily accomplished task.

He is lucky, that the field is rather large and nearly impossible to KO someone with a horizontal out-of bounds kill.

Wario grabbed Ike and sent him hurdling towards Samus. The huntress dodged, quickly moving in for the kill, at long last. Before the fight could continue, however, the lights died out.

Everything stopped, the crowd grew silent, mumbling about the unexpected loss of vision. For awhile, no sound was heard.

Samus could barely see Ike standing next to her, but sensed Wario standing several meters away from them. There was no telling what was going on. She glanced around, trying to spot any movement besides Ike who mirrored her actions. What she did know, was this wasn't apart of her and Link's plan... Her anger began to boil, Ike and herself were almost done with the match and getting even with Wario, and now she couldn't even see well enough to finish.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, uhh...we're not exactly sure of what's going on here, please wait patiently while-"

Suddenly, a very familiar intro song played, the song of the beast. As the song was recognized, the lights flashed rapidly, a single spot-light lighting up the control booth. The crowd went wild, fans cheering at the interruption. The fun battle was about to get even more fun.

"Oooh my! We have an unexpected visitor! It's the current reigning champion, the Sacred Beast, Link!"

Samus did not believe what she heard. Link? Why would he interrupt the match? Her growing annoyance began to mix with confusion. Link wasn't supposed to appear at the arena, not until their match later. He's supposed to be resting right now.

Needless to say, Samus was furious. Her initial thoughts were that he had lost his mind, or decided to rebel against her own plan for whatever reason.

The intruder in question soon stepped into the spot-light. Revealing the form of the King of Kings. He gave a fake grin to Samus, Ike and Wario who watched him from the edge of the Mushroom Kingdom field. The field lit up again, allowing Link to really see Samus and the others. He inwardly shuddered at the enormous glare his bounty-hunting friend gave him.

She thrust her hands up in a questioning manner, wanting to know what he was doing out here in the first place. She spoke out to him, pointing to him and to the door leading to the Core, but not even she could hear herself over Link's theme song.

Link watched her verbally gesture a piece of her mind towards him, and judging by the essence of some gestures, he was kind of glad he couldn't hear what she was saying. It wasn't like he wanted to be out here, if he didn't want Master Hand to break this up himself and find out about his match with Samus tonight in the process, he had to do it himself. The less involved Master Hand was in tonight's show, the better.

Link's fake grin disappeared. A serious glare, also faked by him but real enough to fool the crowd and not raise suspicion, over took his features. Slowly, he pulled off his ceremonial cape the Wireframes slapped around him at the last second so he looked more like a king. Followed by the top of his tunic, just so the crowd believed he really was upset that this match had taken place, or to fool the crowd into thinking he wanted to play mind games with the Game herself before their match in the hopes of gaining some advantage.

Samus watched him pull his tunic off his back, revealing his thickly structure. He used to be more lean than that, but the last few years and the older he got, saw his physique grow in mass. It was another good reason to call him the Sacred Beast. He looked like a Greek war god wearing a silly and unusual green hat.

Link slowly moved into the teleporter, pressing the button and activating it. This allowed him time to think of how he could work this situation to his and Samus' advantage...

As he pondered his options, the teleporter transported the veteran to the arena, a little ways away from Samus, Ike and Wario's current position. The others watched him land roughly on the dirt road leading to Peach's Castle. Samus eyed her best friend with suspicion. Link knew her more than anyone else in the Core, and he knew not to get in her way when she was in the middle of settling a score. He may be a child in a man's body, but he was still as wise as any sage thrice his age. And, he's seen first hand how remorseless she could be when others got in her way.

There was no benefit for him to interrupt her match. And the fact he took his tunic's top off, a rarity of its own and something he did when he knew the fight he was about to get into was going to be against him in odds of survival, made her question his motives. He walked towards them, deliberately slow. He never walked this slow when he was as angry as he appeared to be, Samus knew him as well as he knew her. He was trying to hint her something.

As he walked, Link ran all the possible paths to take to twist this in his and Samus' favor. The fans believe him to be invincible, what with him retaining the title as long as he did in clean fights. He wanted to erase that image and humble himself in their eyes some more.

And then the idea hit him.

Sword already in hand, he stopped ten feet from the trio, eyes locked on Samus. He softened his gaze some, only ever so slightly to the point where only she could notice, as intently as she was watching him. She picked up on the sign, her brows furrowing. He really wasn't serious as she figured.

"This match wasn't authorized by myself or Master Hand."

He said out loud, his voice being sent through the cameras and amplified into the arena speakers so the crowd could hear him. Samus raised an eye brow, he was definitely not out here by choice. The realization struck her, Master Hand found out about this match, and probably the other one between her and Link. But it wouldn't of mattered with the other, bigger one, considering it was okay-ed in front of the entire crowd. Link probably caught a lot of heat from Master Hand about booking matches behind his back, which was what Samus wanted, but this wasn't going to be enough. She had to have her fight with him later to really leave an impact.

"I am here to break it..."

He paused, pointing to Samus.

"And break you."

The crowd erupted in cheers, they were about to get a sneak-peek of the day's main-event. Samus, however, almost didn't hear that last bit. She found herself staring at Link's chest. In all the years she knew him, never did she see him up close without a shirt on. She found herself fascinated by the curves in his muscles, each scar that he acquired from previous adventures. For the first time ever, she realized he looked pretty handsome. And the light flush on his cheeks told her that he was just as flabbergasted as she was.

Link locked eyes with Samus, mentally pleading she could read the subtle signs he gave her. His soft gaze, his relaxed form, and his lack of a fighting pose and aura. She was indeed reading him, though it took effort to restrain the staring, but Samus still couldn't quite get what he wanted.

Link tapped his sword on his leg subtly, eying Samus and the blade, she nodded slightly. He wanted her to fight back. Link then shifted his gaze straight up, towards the boundaries.

'_Oooh...I see what you mean..._'

Link really wasn't out here by choice, and the fact he just hinted to Samus for her to struggle with him, clarified it.

Suddenly, Link launched himself at Ike, slashing him across his breastplate and sending him off the arena and down to the pits, then, turning around he used his hookshot to pull Wario in and power slam him. Lifting the fat man up and finally kick him off the arena bounds behind him, he turned back to engage his friend. Samus jumped back and picked up a heart container that spawned on the edge, removing all damage. Link will want this to look real, so the less chance he has of KO-ing her, the better.

Even when they had a friendly spar, he asked for nothing short of her best. And boy did he get it. He sent a vertical power slash right across her chest, but she was ready for it. Leaping to the side, she kicked his knee in and forced the king to buckle on his leg.

Samus lunged at him, but Link sidestepped her and went for a slash. The smell from early left by Wario hit Link as Samus' proximity grew less in distance, his eyes watered up and he found himself unable to swing, rather clutch his nose with his right hand. The huntress sensed this and rolled to his side, launching a kick to Link's abdomen. He buckled over briefly, allowing her to roll across his back and wrap her paralyzer around him. Giving it a tight pull, Link felt a large amount of voltage pulse through his frame, making him roar in pain.

Now paralyzed, she charged up to him, threw a punch to his jaw which broke his paralysis. But he couldn't react fast enough to dodge the drop kick she followed it up with. He lost his balance on the edge and felt himself tumble off the arena. Making an attempt to regain his footing, Link used his hookshot to grab the ledge, but Samus jumped off as well, kicking him in mid-air before using her whip to catch the surface.

Link was unable to recoil his hookshot fast enough and fell to the abyss. Marking his first KO in quite a while.

The crowd roared at the scene, Link was just defeated by a not-so-fresh Samus without her Varia suit, some hours before their match at Final Destination. Many of them chanted Samus' name, some praising her, others calling her the new Smash King.

Her win theme hit, showing her triumph over the hard fought battle. Samus pulled herself up, brushing the dirt off her Zero Suit and analyzing the crowd with a grin of her own. She shrugged at the fans, pointing at the spot Link was moments before, then to herself before shrugging again. She summoned her Varia suit. Once equipped, she jumped up, briefly morphed to ball form while dispensing some bombs. As she landed, the bombs detonated in a perfect circle around her, with the smoke rising, she blew a few fire-balls from her arm cannon to finish the taunt and display of power.

* * *

Samus exited the command room to the Mushroom Kingdom field, looking left and then right where she spotted Link leaning up against the wall, waiting for her. She looked around him and behind her, making sure no one was around.

"Let me guess, he found out about our matches."

She stated more than asked, leaving only a few inches between herself and her friend, lowering her voice so only he could hear her. Link looked up to her, his eyes a little cracked showing he didn't get the rest he was told to have. Almost immediately, the stench from Wario's previous..."defense", struck him, full force. His eyes attempted to greet one another, as if to share a look of extreme distaste. He clenched his eyes shut, and grabbed his nose. Samus rolled her eyes with a huff, crossing her arms and blushing a little in embarrassment. Her eyes were still red and puffy, due to the smell's intensity.

"Just this one, when he found out about this match he sent me to KO everyone involved. I didn't want him to come down and cancel the match himself and find out about the other one in the process, so I did as he told me to." He said between gasps.

"...Damn that floating limb. I'd tell him to blow his words out his ass, but he doesn't have one, so..."

"Ah-huh. He still blames me for the explosion last night, and the one from two years ago."

"I stand by my previous statement. The little turd-..."

"Samus! Please keep a civil tongue."

"Oh shut up, sir prim and proper."

"Samus...?"

"What."

"Please take a tomato bath."

She hung her head, turning to the wall and planting her skull into it roughly.

* * *

The mansion was in a bit of a stir, Link and Samus were up next for the championship battle, the first one of the week. The match was long in wait, but no one ever expected it to come around, Samus made it known she had no intention to pursue Link's title reign. This was an unexpected change, the majority of the Core reacted almost immediately with excitement, not counting the members whom were scheduled to face Link first.

Another thing that caught their attention, Master Hand normally announces the matches during breakfast, again, all determined by the previous day's collection of wars' out comes. But today, two matches no one knew about until the last minute were put in place, by Link who was tasked with overseeing the show today.

Some of the Smashers felt skeptical about these changes, it was unlike Master Hand to authorize a match and not tell the Core about it. Especially one on the magnitude of Link vs Samus Aran, Smash King championship battle. Very peculiar.

Snake was among those that knew this match coming up likely had not been cleared by the oversized limb, besides his cigarette smoke and ashes, he smelt a foul plot afoot as the saying went. He wasn't the only one, Fox knew something was in the air no one was talking about.

The two shared a look. Snake pulled out another cigarette and lit it up as he finished his plate of food and put it in the dirty dishes pile. Taking a big whiff and savoring the flavor he blew out the smoke, seemingly in thought.

Word reached the mess hall about Link interfering in one of the two unannounced matches, he KO-ed Ike and Wario, but was defeated by Samus in the end. The fight was quick, but heated between the two. Something was definitely stirring, too bad he couldn't get in on it before Samus approached him and Link earlier on. The war-veteran did not want to risk being put back in the infirmary, he knew how grumpy Samus was after the explosion from last night.

Marth suddenly whizzed right past the older spy, taking some of the smoke cloud building up around with him. Snake pulled his cigarette from his mouth and took a closer look at the blue blur that was putting the ever quick Sonic to shame. He took note the Altean prince had a newspaper in one hand and his other holding his rear end.

Snake stared for a little while longer, watching that poor man grunt and heave as he practically dashed through the men's room and disappeared from sight.

'_Sheik. This has you written_ all _over it_.'

He concluded mentally with a chuckle. Soon, the obscene and un-prince-like sounds one expected to hear from those in such a hurry as Marth began to echo inside the bathroom walls. From the sounds of it, he'd be in there for quite a while.

Snake made his way into the Smasher's Lounge, a large room where the Smashers would sit and watch the current matches, prepare for their match, or check a large screen showing the order the coming matches would take place. This order constantly changed with each previous victory, determining the next matches. Smashers that were informed during breakfast that they would be participating in the day's engagements would wait here to see who they were to fight.

Looking up at the screen, purely out of curiosity, it read that the final event of the day would begin soon due to Link's interruption in Samus' triple-threat match against Wario. The spy knew he wouldn't compete today, but it was still interesting to see how some of these warriors did against each other.

Blowing out some more smoke, he narrowed his eyes at the title match. Why was it made?

"Snake? Can I ask you a favor?"

He choked up on his cigarette, coughing puffs of smoke out as he turned to see Zelda standing behind him. She patted his back to help him cough out the remaining clouds in his lungs.

"Zelda, aha, I swear I didn't know the kids were in here," He coughed frantically, "I'll go smoke outside!"

He said in a hurry. Zelda was the self-appointed care-taker of the younger members of the Core, becoming their mother figure of sorts. And whenever the older Smashers like himself would indulge in the pleasures of life that could potentially affect their health, Zelda was the first to boot them from the immediate vicinity. She even carried a big black boot with extra thick heels and a plate of iron at the tip just for such occasions. The Hylians definitely took care of the young, theirs or not. And Snake had the mark to prove it...

"No no, that isn't why I'm here. I need a favor of sorts."

The veteran raised his eyebrow as he cleared his throat with a last cough. Taking another whiff, he released it away from their position and relaxed once again.

"Sure, what's the job?"

"Link and Samus need a few fighters to intercept their match tonight. Myself and Sheik will take part, but we need one extra member. I felt I could trust you with the task, if you would accept."

He raised his eyebrow higher.

"Intercept? Woman, do you know what Samus will do to me if _I_ get involved in her match?"

Zelda giggled heartily as she shook her head at her friend.

"That's just the thing, she knows about the interception."

"And Link?"

"Him too."

Snake scratched the back of his head for a minute, trying to decipher their plan. As if to sense his struggle in comprehending the actions of the trio, Zelda put her hand on Snake's shoulder.

"It's to create an act of disorderly conduct, the chaos would force Master Hand to ban Link from the arena and finally allow my brother to rest properly. Master Hand did not wait the full seven days that Doctor Mario had required of Link, and with the events of last night, Link's roles today are keeping him from resting."

Snake mouthed an 'Oh' as he continued smoking in thought.

"Alright, sure I can run in and cause a bit of chaos. I've got just the tool for the job, too."

He said with a crooked grin as he reached around and pulled his portable rocket launcher out. Zelda smiled at him, he was always willing to give her a hand when she asked for it. Snake patted the side of his RPG, holstering it again as he left to get ready.

Zelda watched him leave, glad she could count on him to take part in this. He was like a brother to Link, a bond she appreciated immensely.

* * *

The duo rounded the corner, on their way to the Final Destination stage to finalize the plan. Samus led the way, her helmet in her left hand. She couldn't help but feel a little taste of irony, earlier in the day it was her who told Link to bath himself in tomato sauce, and by a twist of nature's cruelty, it was Link who told her to do the same. She felt like gagging the entire time, but luckily, Link shouted words of encouragement from outside her door.

She huffed to herself, making a mental note to never fall for the same trap again.

Link kept a perfect stride behind her, the cape he wore whipping around behind him in a majestic manner. The heavy stomping of Samus' Varia suit was the only noise they heard. No one ever defied Master Hand's will to this extent before, it was unheard of. The consequences, totally unknown. It wasn't that they were fearful of the giant hand, especially Samus. If anything, Link knew she was without fear. That, and Samus was still fuming over the gassing, tomato bath, and her match being interrupted.

He, of course, had his ways of facing fear. Not that he was afraid himself, but enough was enough. He just hoped the plan worked.

Master Hand would not be able to permanently banish him nor Samus or whoever she recruited in this temporal rebellion against authority, the fans would leave with them and significantly harm the Core so bad, it may never recover. Samus was obviously ready, but Link wasn't so sure he'd be able to perform on the proper level he needed to for the crowd to believe he was fine.

He and Samus discussed this beforehand, after his interception of the triple-threat. She gave him a quick vitals scan and determined that he would be able to perform sufficiently. But Link knew this was indeed a rather largely desired match by the fans, they believed it would be the biggest match of the year, and he didn't want to disappoint them.

Perhaps they could try again later when he was much better, but he doubted Samus would agree. Only because the title was involved, and she avoided it like the plague. She just didn't want it, and neither he nor Mario could see why not. They both knew it was hell to have the title. And she didn't need the experience to know that fact.

"So, how do you plan on making Master Hand suspend me? The match may not be enough."

Samus stopped, and turned to him, again checking to see if they were alone.

"I told Zelda and Sheik to jump in and interfere with the match. Zelda is looking for someone to help her with the interception now. The chaos it causes will force another event sometime later, but at the same time, piss the big guy, I mean hand, off so bad that he takes you off the show. That should put you back in bed where you need to be for the remaining two days."

"And you're sure it'll work as we intend it to?"

"Yep. Dead sure. Come on, we're almost there... Hopefully everything goes right on the way _to_ the stage."

They began walking again, moving around the corner and back into the resting chamber, only a few of the Smashers were in, most occupied with their own form of entertainment. The Ice Climbers read one of the books Link gave them years ago, which brought a smile to the king. Samus spotted Captain Falcon at a small two person table, reading a magazine with a cup in front of him. She eyed him, slowing her walk until Link was in front of her to help keep herself from being spotted. Despite her suit's heavy steps and bulky shoulders.

Donkey Kong emerged from the kitchen, a banana in his hand and made for the door leading into the opposite hallway. The same hall way the duo of Link and Samus moved for. The head Kong pealed the peel and began eating as the door closed behind him. Link and Samus stopped briefly in the kitchen, readying themselves with a quick refreshment before leaving for the big fight. Donkey Kong leaned up against the wall just outside the door, without a thought as he ate the precious golden fruit.

Samus tapped Link's shoulder, pointing at the clock. They still managed to avoid being noticed, but now they had to head for the arena. He nodded, leading the way back into the resting chamber. Glancing around, he noted the coast was clear and headed for the doorway.

Donkey Kong, now finished with his banana, saw Diddy Kong running down the hallway with a larger, golden banana in his palms. The greater Kong, eyes wide and mouth agape with fascination and drool, dropped the peel in the center of the doorway and took off chasing Diddy Kong for the fruit.

Link opened the door, his eyes behind him and not paying attention. He turned his back to the hall and began walking backwards. Without a hint of warning in the world, not even Samus saw it, Link's right boot stepped on the banana peel and as his weight shifted to that leg, his eyes widened. The peel forced him to slip, the weight of his equipment, combined with his own gave him enough velocity to accidentally launch his right boot up which struck Samus in her chin. She reeled back, teetering over before collapsing down.

Link crashed down on the spot where the peel was a moment ago, his head striking the carpet with relative force. He immediately grabbed his head, holding it while yelling curses. Samus sat up, slightly dizzy. Unfortunately for her, her helmet was still unequipped, so she took the full of the kick to her jaw.

Shaking her head, she narrowed her eyes to a glare and momentarily saw nothing but Link in red. With a cat-like screech, she threw her self at the prone hero, clutching his throat in her left hand. She began to strangle him, as well as shaking his head violently in a fit of rage.

Link cursed his luck. A slip up and Samus is trying to legitimately kill him. Fox came running from the resting chamber, having heard everything. The sight of Samus choking Link stopped him from helping his friend, however. Rather, he just stared at the twist in their friendship.

"Fox...Help...Samus heavy...Choking...Not breathing..."

The only reply Fox could muster to this scene was a slap to his forehead and a sigh.

'_This looks like a carrot and a piece of broccoli, trying to merge their species... Ah great! Now I'll never get _that_ image out of my head! As if I didn't have enough unwanted images!_'

* * *

Sitting in the command room to the Final Destination stage; Link clutched his throat, inhaling as much as he could while sitting opposite of his friend, the huntress Samus who was rubbing her chin where his foot struck. She gave a death glare to Donkey Kong who lowered his head and averted his eyes shamefully. It took Ike, Falcon, Fox and Falco to pull her out of her dimension of rage.

After a long silence, she looked at Link for the first time since being told what really happened.

"Sorry about that."

Link looked up, releasing his throat.

"Accidents happen. At least some good came of it though..."

To this, she raised an eyebrow.

"Like what? You do remember how blue your head was getting, right? I didn't bang your head on the floor _that_ hard."

He gave his sly grin. The same grin she knew meant he was about to crack a wise one.

"I always wondered how much your suit weighed, and I've come to the conclusion that it was the exact amount of 'my ribs are cracking, _get off please!_'"

She tried, but failed, to hide a smile that grew into a chuckle. He kept his eyes on her, laughing as she did. He reached over and patted her hand for a bit, the action causing her gaze to raise back up to meet his.

"Do I have your forgiveness for the kick?"

Again, she smiled.

"If you didn't, you wouldn't be here, right now."

He shook his head, laughing himself.

"What about me?"

"If you didn't, I still wouldn't be here, right now."

Samus began laughing again, the other Smashers gave her weird looks. It wasn't often they saw her laughing at anything, to be honest it was quite terrifying. They began to file out of the black room, closing the door behind them. But a certain Captain remained, eyes locked on Samus like a zombie. Falco, noticing this, grabbed the taller racer's arm and began pulling him out.

Zelda walked in, catching Samus' attention with a wave. She gave the huntress a wink before leaving once again, letting her know they were ready. Samus returned it. Link, frowning at the action, turned to see no one there.

He eyed Samus with a suspicious glance. Hoping he didn't kick her _too_ hard. Though, he had his doubts he ever could kick her _that_ hard.

"Well, you ready?"

Shaking himself from his thoughts, he looked out of the window. No one outside it could see the inside. He saw the fans sitting down, getting ready for the event of the evening. He took a sigh, so far, Master Hand hasn't made his appearance at the control room or the lounge. He seemed to be having second thoughts about it, Samus keeping her gaze fixated on him. In-fact, he looked so tired and worn out, that she feared he was about to fall asleep. But he looked up and gave a devious smile.

"I'm ready."

* * *

Final Destination, the setting where feuds are settled, warriors are made, and skills are truly tested. Few newcomers come to this stage and leave victorious, especially against seasoned veterans that have fought on it since the first era.

But the current match wasn't against a veteran and a rookie. This time, two high ranking legends, generals of the Smash Bros Core, will grace the field with their presence and clash for their entertainment, the people of the Smash World. Word of the match reached far across the continents, countless were watching. At long last, Link and Samus, the only match they haven't seen since the first era, were to compete against each other for the prestigious throne.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, this match is for the Smash Bros. Crown! The first Smasher to KO their opponent from the arena will become the new king!"

The lights moved about, relighting the environment for the first fighter. Her intro music hit, the crowd erupting in a cacophony, eager to see the Game in action one more time before the show ended.

"Introducing first, the challenger. Hailing from the lost space station K2-L, standing at 6 foot 4 inches, legendary bounty hunter, the Game...Samus Aran!"

"Time to play the Game..."

She muttered in unison with her intro music, before locking her helmet in place and appearing on the launch platform, revealing herself to the world's eyes. Stepping onto the portal, a bright flash took her from the platform to the center of the Final Destination field. She dropped down, dispensing her bombs in a perfect circle. As she landed, they detonated around her, just out of reach. Standing to her full height, she activated her flame-thrower and waved her arm cannon over head briefly, completing her Varia-taunt.

Her song and intro movie died out, she prepared for the battle of the night. To say she wasn't nervous before, was to speak the truth. But now, she wondered if this was going to satisfy not only herself or the crowd, but the amount of defiance that was needed to change Master Hand's mind. Her only reason to be here, was for her best friend, Link.

'_The lengths I go to for this guy... Someone should be paying me for this._'

She thought, sarcastically. Never in her past had she really grown attached to anyone as she did the young Hylian hero. His story was nearly the exact same as hers, yet he was different. Truly phenomenal that he turned out the way he had, regarding everyone equally and with respect. Even Master Hand. She briefly shook herself. Sometimes, Link could be too soft, or too quick to forgive.

It was kind of alluring to her. Wearing his heart on his shoulder like he did, to her it just made him all the more vulnerable to a back stab. Maybe that was why she stood by him so, she was drawn to his compassion. It was a wonder he didn't have someone that was 'more than a friend' yet. Whether that was a good thing, or not, Samus couldn't, or wouldn't say.

His intro song hit, blaring across the large arena floating in the endless space. The crowd roared once more for the king. His song speaking for his character. Yes, he walked alone. There was next to no one like him in the entirety of the Core, as large as it was. Uniqueness, deadly skill, endless courage, all personified in the form a humble kid from the forest raised by one lowsy tree and a bunch of other kids. Samus used to laugh every time she thought about it, always wondering how such a killer fighter like him could remain both a nice guy, a best friend and a humble champion while growing up the way he had.

Link stepped forward, into the spot-light with his gear fully equipped. Taking off the cape which had the image of a wolf's head embedded in it, he raised his left hand high over his head, the mark that symbolized him shining forth in a golden light for all to see. Stepping onto the portal, the bright-flash brought him to an opposite position of Samus.

Samus Aran. _The_ strongest person he knew. Never did he have a closer friend than her, and he had been to a few places in his day and made some. Not a one had the spark in them that she had. And wow, she was quite the fighter. Her story spoke that in volumes, her rough upbringing molded her into the dominate force that stood before him. Though her attitude was easily provoked, she carried a grace and charm that ensnared his mind.

She had the beauty to knock and angel from the sky, and set a devil afire. He always respected her more than he did anyone else, always looked up to her, and not just physically. The most heart-wrenching thing about her sad back-story was how she witnessed the death of everyone she held close to her, leaving her to be cold and alone in a world where everyone fought for themselves.

It was a wonder she remained a good person, if a bit layered. She usually kept to herself, and stood by herself often when she first arrived. If anything, Link began to think she was more deserving of his theme than he was. But, unlike him, she possessed a cunning nature and intelligence that even that of Zelda and Sheik's paled to in comparison. Super fast, super strong, and super smart, Samus had all the things to make her a top fighter amongst the many world's heroes in the Core.

Outwardly, she emitted a strong and violent aura that kept others away, but Zelda, Sheik and himself could look past that and gaze into her ocean orbs and see what she truly was. A young woman trying to learn from the past, survive the present, and make a better future.

No words could describe how grateful he was to know her so well. Their connection was so profound, and the fact their friendship was deep enough to rely on each other to watch their backs, was uncanny. And he appreciated that fact, appreciated her for being who she is.

Drawing his sword and shield, Link raised the flat of his blade to his face before slashing it into the stage at his left and raising his shield before him. Pulling his sword from the metal platform, he held it at his side as Samus aimed her cannon forward and positioned her feet.

Their life and their friendship outside the stage was pushed aside. It wasn't a spar against two friends, this was a fight, no, a war against to warriors.

"FIGHT!"

Samus was the first to move, blasting off a few energy shots towards her target. Link swung the Master Sword and batted two away and deflected the last few with his shield. Charging forward, Link threw a stab that Samus sidestepped, sending a kick to Link's mid-section. He buckled before his sword sliced across Samus' breastplate, pushing her back with the force of his considerable strength.

Ike and Link shared a similar power with their blades, the difference being Link's sword was lighter and a little longer. Samus stepped back before launching a missile his way. Link raised his shield and dropped to his knee to block the blast and maintain his footing.

Samus moved in, looking to connect a round-house kick and send Link's shield flying, but Link exploded from behind his shield and threw a kick of his own. Seeing it, She caught his foot as it missed her head and threw him over the edge.

Whipping out his hookshot, Link caught the edge with the anchor and pulled himself up. Samus watched him flip over and land behind her. Tossing a bomb at her, she managed to kick it away from her before it could detonate on her. Following the parry, she aimed her cannon once more before Link was suddenly all over her.

Using her cannon, she deflected each slice he took. Link's attack were quick, nearly blinding. She was astonished he could move so quickly with all his equipment. She parried a stab and launched a kick to his jaw, with Link dodging it and using his shield as a club.

Samus began to back off, looking for some room. A beam sword spawned above her. Link threw a powerful stab, again seeing Samus sidestep. She grabbed the beam sword and locked it in her arm-cannon's barrel. Link swung his sword in a vertical slice, but was surprised that his blade collided with another. Looking up, he saw Samus' beam sword holding his Master Sword inches from her helmet.

Using her strength, she pushed the Hylian hero off. Recovering, Link analyzed his opponent and grinned. Samus' skills with a beam sword were great, but he was the holder of the Master Sword.

Samus knew this, Link was a master swordsmen, it helped him climb to the top and stay there in the Core. He once took on both Marth and Roy in a two on one match, he managed to defeat both, who were legendary in their own right with the blade.

The king moved in, Samus slashing with the beam sword but missing. He swung a horizontal slice at her mid-section, but she parried with a reverse vertical grip. Using his sword, Link twisted the blades' position to put stress on Samus' shoulder. She struggled to reverse the grip, not reaching any success, she broke the contest and fired the beam sword from her cannon at Link.

The hilt struck him in the chest while he was recovering from the loss of momentum, taking the air from his lungs. Samus moved in, lifting her knee and slamming it into his chin. Link fell back, landing with a heavy thud. Samus saw her chance and began charging her cannon, while aiming it at her fallen target.

Shaking the dizziness from his head, Link jumped up to his feet and moved to tackle Samus. Succeeding, and taking the larger fighter off her feet, the Game landed on her back with an even heavier thud, shaking the platform slightly.

Raising his sword high, Link brought it down at Samus' head, who moved it just in time. Link tried again, only to repeat his failure. The bounty huntress sent a kick with her foot at the back of Link's head, instead, colliding with his arched back.

His sword was still embedded in the steel platform. Looking over to the blade, Samus briefly saw her reflection in the metal's surface before hopping to her feet. Link stood, shield in hand and noticed his sword stood behind Samus who placed herself between him and his weapon. He could sense the challenging smirk beneath her helmet. There wasn't any other items near that he could use to substitute his blade, seeing no choice, he launched himself once again at his friend.

Now, she knew he was good with hand to hand combat, but she also knew that she bested him every time they sparred in that field. Grinning, Samus sent a back-hand strike with her left. Link ducked and threw a kick. She caught it, twisted it whilst he yelped in pain, before kicking his other foot from beneath him. He landed hard, his now blurred vision sighting Samus overshadowing him with her arm cannon, fully charged, aimed at his head.

Out of instinct, he raised his shield and blocked the ensuing blast. When the smoke cleared, Link shot up with his shield and collided with Samus' helmet, sending a few sparks in the process. She stumbled back, shaking off the hit and grunting in frustration.

Link quickly grabbed his sword and turned around, only to be hit by a charged energy shot that sent him flying. His damage meter read seventy percent, and Samus' read sixty-five percent. He was losing, and he didn't mind. But he wasn't going out without leaving an 'impact'.

Samus saw him catch the edge, shaking her head. Watching as he pulled himself up, he grinned slyly and pointed to her feet. Looking down, her sensor began blaring an alarm as her scanner sighted a bomb.

"Oh, you've _got_ to be-"

It exploded, sending the Game to the opposite side of the stage. She landed, and her damage meter read eighty percent. She smiled, that was quick thinking on his part. The best part, this was way more enjoyable than their spars.

Lifting herself up, Link began striding towards her while spinning his sword in his hand. Samus gave a quick damage read and followed suit with a stride of her own.

A flash appeared above them and a Smash Ball was spawned. Both warriors locked onto the item, then locked gazes with each other. Link dove for the victory-guaranteed ball, but Samus used her grappling hook to pull it in. Breaking the item in her hand, her suit glowed.

Her HUD display read the power meter now at a peak of five-hundred percent, and that the cannon was fully charged. Grinning, Samus aimed her cannon at Link and fired. Using all he had, Link threw himself over the edge of the stage, watching as the laser cut through the spot he was in moments ago. The heat hit him and he began to sweat.

Pulling his hookshot out again, he caught the ledge and dangled for a moment. Her cannon finally finished, overheating warnings appearing across her displays before her armor crumbled around her, leaving the Game in her Zero Suit.

He survived, she knew it. The match was still on, and the crowd was almost too loud for her to focus. But she knew the victory wasn't hers just yet. Sure enough, Link pulled himself back up, although with greater strain than before.

'_He's almost spent. Better end this before he collapses in front of everyone..._'

Samus, ever so subtly, pressed one of the bright colored markings on her right hand, as if to signal someone. Before either could clash again, Sheik shot out from nowhere and launched a kick towards Samus. Samus sidestepped it and shot a paralyzer beam at the Sheikah who managed to roll to the side.

Link watched Sheik attack Samus with confusion, before the whistle of a missile was heard to his left. Snake stood on one knee to the side and his rocket launcher on his shoulder, a missile already having been fired.

The king brought up his shield and angled it so that the tip ricochet of his shield's surface and passed over him. Standing back up, Link set his sights on the older man, moving in as Snake took a fighting pose.

"**STOP!**"

The booming voice of Master Hand was heard. All eyes turned to the top of the area, the great white gloved hand slowly descending with an air of authority.

"This match will be ruled as a No-Contest match. Smashers, return to the Core."

The crowd booed, showing their resentment for the conclusion of the battle. Master Hand spawned a few portals that Sheik and Snake stepped into. Link and Samus stood face-to-face, staring deeply into each others eyes challengingly.

"Now!"

Master Hand commanded, earning a glare from both blond Smashers. Slowly, they stepped into a portal, never breaking eye contact until they were in all the way.

* * *

"What was that all about? How dare you make another match after I deliberately told you not to until you had it authorized by me!"

Link simply ignored the hand as Doctor Mario looked him over, making sure he wasn't getting sicker than he already was.

"And I-a told you-a that he was to-a rest-a full seven-a days!"

The doctor shot back.

"Regardless, the chaos you caused tonight will leave me to mounds of paper work to go through, dozens of matches to change-"

"Blah blah blah. Look here, Phillsbury Dough _Glove_, the bottom line is that you put a sick man in charge of the show. That was the biggest mistake for a business _glove_ to make. And since you think you're always right, I'll let you in on a little secret."

Samus interrupted the giant limb, pausing briefly as a flabbergasted Master Hand was left speechless by her cutting in.

"It wasn't his idea, it was mine _and_ his. I did most of the thinking, he just went with it."

"Samus, I know you hate me because of how I work things here, but this isn't really any of your-"

"You finish that, and I'll give you a hole to crap out of."

The huntress warned venomously. Sheik, Zelda and Snake watched the verbal conflict unfold, keeping silent as their gazes swapped back and forth between each member of the argument. Sensing danger, the Hand averted his attention to the tired Hylian.

"You do realize the extent of damage you have caused, correct?"

"There is no damage, that match was announced at the beginning of the show. Even if you found out about it, there was no point in stopping it. So Samus and I decided it best to create a chaotic outbreak. Do what you will with the events of today, Mr Hand, but I am in dire need of rest. If I don't get it, I'll never recover. Placing me in charge of the show was a mistake, and broke the ruling of Doctor Mario's diagnosis a week before."

The hand became silent.

"And if you don't fix that little slip-up of yours soon, I'll make your life a living hell. Got it?"

Samus added. Master Hand grunted before floating out of the door. But he stopped just as he passed the doorway.

"Fine. I'll suspend you four for a few days to end the situation for the fans. With any hope, they wont expect a revival of todays events. Good day." He muttered the outro a little roughly.

Link and Samus shared a victorious glance, Link smiling with Samus grinning. Zelda, Sheik and Snake watched with amused smiles.

"I could use a break, I'm still filling that fall off Link's balcony anyways..."

Snake spoke up. Link and Zelda began to laugh as Sheik rolled her eyes. Samus smiled as she stood and made for the door, grabbing Link in the process.

"Come on, funny ears, bed time."

"Finally..." He exhaled as he stumbled behind Samus who led the way to his temporary sleeping quarters.

"Oh wait, where am I staying again? I was so tired earlier that I was heading for my room. Never remembered that it was currently being pieced back together."

Samus stopped. '_Great. I forgot about that..._'

"Uh... I don't know."

Link thought for awhile. Ike's dorm was a tad full there was nearly no room. Snake's dorm had a bunch of boxes and weapons in it for some odd reason. Mario's room was littered with spice scents that made him sneeze. Fox's room was shared by Falco and Wolf. Ganondorf was out of the question for obvious reasons... Bowser snored pretty loudly. Marth and Roy's rooms were too far away... There was only one other person he could count on.

"How about your floor?"

Samus' eyes went wide with disbelief.

"What? Ah, no!"

* * *

Link settled into a sleeping bag on the floor, near her bed. He laid there with a content smile on his face, breathing a sigh of relief and relishing the scent of his friend's living quarters. A mixture of pine and apples. He kept his eyes low, not wanting to observe any of her private things, trinkets and the like.

Samus didn't feel that Link would snoop around her stuff, or stare at her when she was sleeping, but it was now way more awkward than it was ever before. She laid in her bed, wearing her night-gown, eyes wide-open. Link seemed pretty okay with this, but she was incredibly uncomfortable.

She was right. Taking care of Link, especially after Doctor Mario's words from a few days before, was going to make this very awkward...

* * *

**A/N: **Glad I got this out. I feel good. And yeah, it's super long, but I had so much to fit into one day that I had to stretch it into a two-parter. This marks the end of day 5, and we can go back to the other elements of this story in the next chapter. Hope you enjoyed this. I spent a good while working on it.

Also, I posted an update on my profile. I am returning to this section with a vengeance! Mwahahahaaa!

_PS:_ word count: 11,938


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